Batman:Divine Right
by Kevin Broderick
Summary: Set two months after "The Dark Knight", Batman faces several new rogues along with some love interests.
1. Chapter 1

"What a waste of time" mused Commissioner Gordon as he checked his watch. The Gotham wind beat across his face and made his body shiver. It was late. A quarter to midnight. Barbara would not be pleased. Frankly, neither was he.

"I say we give them another ten minutes" stated Detective Robert "Robbie" Gould haughtily, "and then tell them to go fuck themselves." With that, Gould lit a cigarette, shielding the flame from the aggressive wind.

Robbie Gould wasn't exactly one of Gordon's sharpest hounds but he could definitely be counted on and trusted, which said a lot in this city. Then again, he's said the same of others and that hadn't worked out too well, to say the least.

"Well, if I have to spend my night waiting on the FBI" said Commissioner Gordon, grabbing the cigarette, hurling it to the ground and stomped it out, "I could do without that."

"Not necessary, Commissioner" was all Robbie muttered.

Gordon only smiled. Gordon had scheduled a secret meeting with two federal agents, who had taken a special interest in the Joker incident that happened two months prior. Gordon had begrudgingly agreed to the questioning, on the condition that he bring a member of his highly regarded task force. The agents begrudgingly accepted that. Gordon wanted Robbie there as a precaution. There have been several assassination attempts on him in the past two weeks. It hadn't stopped him from doing his job, but he had to be careful. The meeting place was the top the Barnes Avenue apartments.

_Barnes Avenue_, Gordon repeated to himself with bitter nostalgia. This was the same street where The Joker made his attempt on Mayor Tony Garcia's life and where Gordon faked his death. Not good memories to have.

The door leading to the roof of the apartments opened as a man and a woman appeared. Neither were what he expected to see. He already knew one was an agent Flanagan and the other an agent Montoya. Gordon couldn't help wonder which was which.

The two shook hands with Gordon and Robbie.

"I'm Agent Flanagan" the man said and motioned to his partner, "and this is Agent Montoya. I'm sorry for our tardiness but we had some pressing matters..."

"I'm the goddamn police commissioner" Gordon shouted. "You think _I_ didn't have pressing matters?!"

"Actually" Flanagan thoughtfully said, "we were pretty sure you did. Why did you agree to this?"

The question moved Gordon and caused him to forget his anger. Why had he come? He hadn't known until now. Now he knew the answer.

"Our city was nearly torn apart in three days. It was stopped but there was a tragedy that affected everybody in this city. It makes me question my duties and my very life. I just want this tragedy to end."

The Agents were apparently surprised by the answer and sympathized with him.

"We know what the problem is, Commissioner" said Montoya. "This so-called Batman. He was a vigilante, fighting corruption and evil in the city. Then he snapped and started killing cops, mobsters and even a district attorney he suppossedly saved."

Montoya threw her head back in cruel laughter and added sarcastically,"Though he did _such _a great job of that, anyway."

Gordon hated her for that.

"We want to stop the Batman and bring him in if we can" Agent Flanagan continued, "No, let me rephrase that, we _will_ bring him in and we're going to find out exactly what happened two months ago in Gotham, because I've read the report and frankly, it doesn't make any fucking sense."

Gordon looked at their faces. There were both young hotshots to be making statements like this. So naive, too innocent to realize they were far out of line here. They would be useful to him as GCPD police but as federal agents they were a threat. He couldn't let them find out the truth. He should have seen this coming, though. He saw their bodies portray a professionalism of sorts, but their eyes showed that they were eager and excited. They had heard stories of Batman and now they had the chance to catch him. Gordon could imagine what they must feel as fellow law enforcement.

"What do you think" asked Agent Flanagan, extending his hand and looking for help.

Gordon didn't think of shaking hands with this naive agent.

"I don't think you understand what happens here nor do you have any idea what you're getting into" said Gordon, stuffing his hands in his jacket pockets.

Flanagan just smiled and replied, "You have no idea who I am, Commissioner. Just wait until you see what why we're so good at our jobs. In the meantime, let us know if you have anything that could help us." Flanagan reached into his pocket, as Montoya did the same, and both produced cards that had a number that where Gordon could reach their office at.

Gordon looked them over once, learning Flanagan's first name was Ronald and that Montoya's was Renee. He decided instantly that he would never call. With that, both agents shook hands with Gordon and Robbie, then left without another word.

"I think we should call the number, commissioner" Robbie stated.

Gordon looked at him pointedly and threw the cards into the wind.

"I think I'd rather tell them to fuck off, Robbie." Gordon said before leaving to go home.

Gino Malroni wasn't a man of patience. This Victor Falcone business was beginning to piss him off. Everybody in the city knew all of his father's operations belonged to him now. Now this clown Victor Falcone, some college boy, was attacking Gino's various drug houses around the city and stealing the cash for himself. "This cash has the Falcone family name's on it" is what Victor said each time he and his boys hit another spot. Falcone. The name didn't mean anything in Gotham anymore. Malroni was the mob's first name now, as Gino saw it, and he'd be damned if he gave it back.

Tonight was the night that Gino would meet Victor. The two would decide once and for all who would run the mob. Gino couldn't wait. The two had agreed to meet at an abandoned food processing plant on Darker Street. He had his men do a search of the house while Gino waited for Victor on the ground floor with three of his bodyguards. Victor wasn't very smart from the look of things. He was expecting more from an Ivy League student. He should have studied a little more, because if he had he would found that Gino Maroni completed most of his deals in this very factory.

Albert Ricci and Michael Anorota were on the upper balconey where they could get the high ground and spot Victor and his men before anyone else could. Gino looked up looking for any sign and instead got a shrug from Albert. Stephen Billups and Chris Tulip were downstairs wandering the former management offices.

"Why is the boss so spooked anyway" Stephen asked, "He owns this damn place. Who is afraid to walk in their own shadow?"

"Shut up" commanded Chris Tulip, "Don't you know anything? This Victor spook and his boys have been showing up out of nowhere, and taking areas like they were _already_ there. He's not taking any chances."

A chilling voice from behind them answered, "So, he isn't as stupid as I took him for." Chris Tulip was immobilized with a single punch to his spine and fell sprawling backwards to the ground. Stephen turned, gun drawn, only to have his wrist clenched and broken. This was followed by a punch to the throat to keep him from screaming and alerting the others. He lost consciousness after the next punch.

Chris was turned over and saw his attacker for the first time. His widened and fear and his heart beat much faster than it did before. He also seemed to be paralyzed, at least temporarily.

Batman looked down at him and for a second, his look of complete hatred and contempt was unbearable to Albert. He would've begged to die to get away from that stare, except he found it unbearably difficult to talk. Thankfully, he didn't remember anything after that. Batman must have taken mercy and knocked him out.

"Where are those idiots" asked Gino to his men, not even expecting an answer. He cocked the shotgun he had handy and yelled out, "Come out you cocksucker! I know you're here! Show yourself you coward!"

As if in answer, Albert's unconscious body fell from the balconey tied by a thin black wire, wrapped all around his body an innumerable amount of times and one of the railings above him.

"That couldn't be Victor Falcone, boss" said one of his boys.

"Shut up" shouted Gino Maroni, "I know exactly who it is."

Suddenly, they heard a grunt and a sigh from above them, near the upper stairwell. The men all ran in that direction, guns drawn. They arrived just in time to find an unconscious Michael Anarota sliding down the stairs. His head was bleeding. Nick Sparks, reached down cautiously to check his pulse.

"He's alive" Nick confirmed.

"Boss" Giovanni Rizo, "We should leave with the quickness. Batman..."

"Yeah, Bat_man_" Gino repeated, "keyword:Man. He may be Batman, but if he's a man then he bleeds like us. He'll die like Victor."

With that, Batman landed behind them with cape extended. He dropped to the ground and took out their legs with more synthetic wire, wrapping their ankles in a second. With a single button press from its emitter, they are yanked to the ground and wrapped. The only one not affected is Gino, who proceeds to take a shot at Batman. He misses as Batman dodges into the darkness beneath the stairs. Gino follows him ignoring his men's pleas, who are wrapped in Batman's binds. There is very limited space behind the stairwell, all shrouded in dark. He blindly sprays the area with blast after blast of shotgun shells. He fires six times, having to reload. As he begins, Batman rushes him from his right side.

Batman knocks the shotgun and Gino's shells to the ground and grabs him by the throat with one hand. Gino grabs arm Batman with both hands, trying to wrench himself free. When that doesn't work, he kicks Batman in the legs and abdomen but its like kicking a wall.

"Victor Falcone never existed" Batman said, "He was a character I created. Carmine Falcone did have a son, yes, but he hasn't stepped foot in Gotham since the age of twelve. Not even for his father's funeral."

With that, Batman released Gino, only to administer a crunching uppercut that broke Gino's jaw and knocked him unconscious.

Batman, after tying up Gino Malroni, goes upstairs to confirm what he had seen earlier. In the deepest crevice of the stairwell, in the plant's storage room are hundreds of stored boxes and barrels. Batman flips open a knife and slices a box open. He finds various guns and other weapons. He tears the top of a barrel with a dagger. There is nothing but pure heroin.

Outside, in the trees, Batman dials 911 on his cell phone after place an audio syndicate on it, created by WayneTech.

"Yes, this is 911" the operator chimed in, "What is your emergency?"

"Yeah" said Batman in an altered voice, "I need help. I'm at 1355 Downey Boulevard. There are men inside an old abandoned factory. There's a lot of drugs and guns. I'm shot. Please... help." Batman added a wavering voice to the call to emphasize that he had been potentially fatally shot.

"Sir, what is your..."

Batman hung up after that. However, he is a man of patience even if he doesn't seem like it sometimes. He was so patient he portrayed himself as a criminal for a week and a half, waiting for the chance to find Maroni stupid and charged enough to mess up like this. He was so patient he stole dirty money, only to burn it later. He was so patient, he waited an hour for police to show up at the abandoned food plant, making sure Maroni and his men never escaped.


	2. Chapter 2

**Bruce Wayne sat on the reclining chair in the wide open space most would call a living room, watching TV with his black German Shepard, Ace. Ace sat on its haunches next to his chair and he unconsciously rubbed his ears, as he watched the news.**

**"Ah, Master Wayne, I see your attention to the details of Gotham haven't wavered a bit since you started destroying yourself in physical training" stated Alfred as he brought Bruce' s breakfast on a tray before him.**

**Without even turning to look at him, only absently taking the tray from Alfred onto his lap, Bruce said, "I have to get better Alfred, you know that. Even moreso, now that the police are after me."**

**Taking a step back and gasping to signify faux-offense, "Why I **_**never**_**, Master Wayne!" This brought an insidious smile from Bruce.**

**"You should know" he continued, "I know you better you better than most. I mean I do wash your laundry, clean your room, clean your wounds, erase your po..."**

**"Okay okay, Alfred" Bruce interrupted motioning him to stop with a chuckle, "I get it."**

**"Not to mention" Alfred barreled on, "I clean after that dog of yours. You sure as hell bloody don't!"**

**"Batman doesn't clean after dogs" Bruce jokingly answers.**

**"Apparently" Alfred retorted, "he doesn't clean after **_**himself**_**, either!"**

**After chuckling and rubbing Ace a little more, Bruce says, "I'll be sure to work on that, Alfred."**

**"You do that, sir" Alfred retorted faux-angrily, "and in the meantime why don't stop playing with your dog long enough to eat your breakfast. I take it you had a busy night and I don't want to see you **_**die**_** for God's sake."**

**Bruce looked down at his tray. English Toast with jelly, bacon, steamed mushrooms, sausages, a glass of orange juice and a cup of coffee.**

**"I know you like your coffee black, sir" Alfred stated.**

**"You know me **_**so**_** well" Bruce retorted sarcastically.**

**Uncomfortably, Alfred comments, "Wayne Manor is nearing completion, Master Wayne."**

**Bruce picked up his fork and attempted to eat his eggs, largely ignoring the news and not doing a particularly good job at doing so.**

**Alfred was beginning to re-state the news, when Bruce interrupted, "You know how I feel about that, Alfred."**

**Bruce then turned in his chair and faced Alfred to emphasize his statement, "I'm never going to step foot into that house again, Alfred. We shouldn't have bothered to rebuild."**

**Alfred opened his mouth to speak when Bruce raised the volume on his TV considerably with the remote control.**

**"...And in other news" An attractive female news reporter announced, "suspected mob boss Gino Maroni was apprehended last night on incriminating evidence and charges of drug trafficking and gunrunning. As many already know, Gino is supposedly the last acting heir of the Maroni crime family. This could very well be the end of the mob in Gotham for the foreseeable future."**

**No mob. Bruce sat back and imagined the possibility. Was his mission really so close to completion? Had the tragedy of Gotham's only heroes have been for the greater good? Did he dare call Harvey Dent's death a necessary sacrifice? Was the dawn that Harvey had alluded to? If it was, what would be Batman's purpose now?**

**On the TV screen, the camera cut to the abandoned Gregor Foods Factory where police were shown extracting the drugs and weapons. Another cut showed an officer shoving a handcuffed Gino Maroni in the back of a squad car. **

**Next, the report cuts to new acting District Attorney Kevin Broderick, a brooding and apparently humorless man who isn't exactly as hope-inspiring as Harvey Dent was. **

**"I would like to believe this the end of the organized mob in Gotham, but we have only vague ideas as to how the remaining capos would react to this" he offered, "We don't even have charges on Mr. Maroni yet. We should just take a second to gather evidence and the facts, then we might actually go somewhere with this case. I will look into this one personally."**

**"That is nice to hear" said the attractive reporter as the camera cut back to hear, "It seems that our courageous DA has the situation well taken of. I'm Vicki Vale with ABC news Gotham and I only bring the truth, if you want a dream go to Metropolis." **

**"At least they have leaders with more optimism in Metropolis" Alfred commented.**

**"Gotham is getting better, Alfred" Bruce replied nicely enough, taking a fateful bite of Alfred's English toast, "Hmm, this is actually pretty good, Alfred. We don't have to try to uplift ourselves anymore with corny remarks about a 'brand new day' or some other bullshit."**

**Suddenly, the TV took on an ominous gray color and emitted a continuous beeping sound. Alfred, grabbing the remote control, attempts to change the channel. Yet, all the channels display this same quality. Bruce heard it before Alfred. It was likely due to his training with the League of Shadows, heightening and honing his senses. Bruce didn't hear as much as simply felt it. He just knew he should look out his window. What he saw ruined Gotham's recent optimism in a single blast of fire.**

_**Where were you when the Downey Tower fell**_**? This was a question Bruce Wayne knew he would be asked at some point in the foreseeable future, if there was one. Bruce Wayne would tell them he was watching the news on how the Gotham mob had seemingly been dismantled in one night. He could then say he saw the tallest skyscraper in Gotham City explode from several levels within at nearly the same time in a systematic faction, as if the foundation had been built with them there all along, waiting for the day to be utilized. He watched the Downing Tower fall to the ground in a pillar of smoke and fire. He heard the screams of the people inside from his condo building that three minutes away. He remembered how angry he felt. People had died, and there hadn't been a damn thing he could do about it. He could stop mobsters, murderers, rapists. There was nothing he could do here, not as Batman. He would have to help Gotham heal again, only this time as Bruce Wayne.**

**Bruce didn't have to ask Alfred. Alfred had already resigned himself to readying the limo. Bruce could only thank him.**

**"I should have seen it coming, Alfred" Bruce blurted out on the ride to the Downey Tower site, after minutes of solemn silence.**

**"Whatever do you mean by that, Master Bruce" Alfred asks, looking back at him as they were engaged in bumper-to-bumper traffic.**

**"The Joker nearly destroyed this city and its very soul almost single handedly by being a psychological terrorist" Bruce theorized. "Not exactly the same situation, but the same principles. How long did I really think I could pretend somebody else wouldn't attempt the same thing he did? How could be so careless? So stupid? I couldn't save them, Alfred."**

**"Master Bruce, you can't blame yourself for this" Alfred conveyed, "this was out of your hands. This is out of everybody's hands. This was a calculated attack in the same vein as 9/11 executed by Al-Queda. Some men do not care for theatrics, like the men you are used to facing. Like man at all. They are true animals or demons if you will. These demons only exist to spread despair and terror because that is all they know and the only thing they can share. In reality, man must leave a legacy behind before he leaves this earth. This is the only thing they can leave behind."**

**"Are you trying to justify their actions" Bruce asked disgustedly.**

**"No" Alfred answers, "I only understand them."**

**Bruce opens his door and gets out.**

**"Master Wayne" Alfred calls after him, "Where are you going?!"**

**"I'm going to find people I understand" Bruce chirped back, before closing the backseat door of the limo and bounding down the street to head toward the Downey Tower.**

**James Downing was a kind investor with a heart of gold, creating numerous healthcare charities, foundations and sponsorship work. He was worth more than thirty billion dollars, dwarfing the of inherited wealth of Bruce Wayne and Lex Luthor from Metropolis. If Bruce Wayne was Gotham's young prodigal son, James Downing was its grandfather. **

**The tallest building in Gotham was named after him. Bruce approached the wreckage, hearing the screams, alarms and cries around him at a much closer proximity than before. A crowd had gathered and families were there yearning to see their loved ones who had been inside. Police had barricaded the way to the site and were blocking people from entering. Firefighters were still putting out fires and rescue teams were already propelling themselves into its depths to find survivors. **

**He couldn't believe this. How could this have happened? Why here? **

**Somebody had noticed Bruce, an average-looking blonde woman of about twenty-nine. **

**"Bruce Wayne" she spat with distaste, "There isn't some flashing camera or hot model or gossip reporter to impress. Why are **_**you**_** here?" Bruce didn't have a sensible answer that she would understand. They all knew who he was but more or less didn't care at that point of time. He wished he could make her understand. He wished he could make them all understand, but how could he? **_**I'm Batman and I am the man who keeps your streets clean and am on the campaign to save your city from self-mutilation. I am your hero. Oh yeah, I am also the man who killed two cops and a District Attorney adored by the public and a possible savior to us all.**_** They couldn't possibly understand a man who carries the sins of Gotham on his back.**

**He felt like a child again. He was outside the opera theatre with them again. He could smell the rank smell of the back alleys, remembering thinking how they could stage a play in such a place. The wealthy family of three didn't seem like they belonged there, as well as whatever wealthy socialites had made it an evening. Gotham was rather dirty back then. There wasn't even a mask for it to wear to hide its sordid details like it has today. He remembers being afraid but not exactly surprised when a desperate lowlife named Joe Chill pulled a gun on the three of them asking for whatever they had. His was drowned in never ending sorrows he pulled the trigger three more times than he had to. He still hated Joe Chill for that night. He still hates himself. He looks up and who's there to help him to his feet but Alfred. **

**Alfred extends his hand and says in a soothing tone, "Get up, Master Wayne. There's work to be done."**

**Bruce looks around him at the fire trucks and crumbled tower. "Of course, Alfred" he says and takes his hand.**

**Bruce met with the Gotham City Rescue Services Director Greg Hines. He was a decent man. He, along with the families gathered were very happy with Bruce's announcement.**

**"I promise you that I intend to pay my respects to those who suffered today, including you and your son" said a very sincere Bruce Wayne as he took Margaret Fields' hands in his own. She looked at his stern, handsome face with her own tired and teary-eyed expression. Somehow, even as his reputation had preceded him as a shallow, pretentious man; his promise seemed to lift her spirits just a little bit. It seemed impossible as her thirty-eight year old son had perished along with over a thousand others. **

**After Margaret Fields, there James Nealson. Then there was Stephen Talban. He made promises to them all and would have spoken to every family, if he hadn't been called away by Alfred.**

**"Master Bruce, I hate to intrude, but you have pressing matters at Wayne Industries" he informed. "There is an executive meeting that our dear friend Lucius Fox requests that you be a part of."**

**"Alfred, this is ridiculous" Bruce complained. "There is absolutely no way I'm leaving these people."**

**"Master Bruce" Alfred countered, "Must I remind you that you cannot do anything for them by just being there, as much as you'd like to. Sometimes, you should fight for justice. Other times, you should aid another way. Of course he was right.**

**Alfred drove Bruce to Wayne Industries with difficulty as various roads were blocked and routes were sealed due to the terrorist attacks. During the ride, Bruce talked to his lawyer and old private school friend, Thomas Elliot on his car phone.**

**"So let get this straight" Elliot said, trying to understand. Bruce could just hear the exasperation in Elliot's voice. All Elliot wanted was a simple existence. Bruce felt sorry for him. He should have warned him that would be next to impossible as long as he represented Bruce. "You want to donate how much money to these people" he asked.**

**"Tragic victims" Bruce corrected.**

**"Of course" Elliot compromised, "Tragic victims."**

**"I told you already, old friend" Bruce coolly stated as if nothing, "I want to donate ten million dollars."**

**"Yeah, that's what I thought you had said" Elliot replied bitterly. "Are you out of your goddamned mind?"**

**"No" Bruce attempted to laugh off.**

**"Bruce, how are you gonna raise that much money by ...**_**tonight**_**, you say?" Elliot warily questioned.**

**"Yes, Thomas" Bruce said in a smiling, semi-condescending way, "I want you to schedule a banquet tonight and invite all of my associates and every wealthy soul in this city to it."**

**"I can't believe you are even thinking of doing this" Elliot mused mostly to himself. "How the hell are you even going to raise the money? Do you have that much liquid assets ready?"**

**Bruce only smiled widely and said, "You know me, Thomas. I always find a way. Just make the announcements and make the arrangements."**

**"Consider it done, old friend" Elliot said automatically. "Oh, and Bruce? Before I go, I know what I said and everything but if you pull this thing off, you would have done an amazing and great thing. You will make your parents proud."**

**"Thank you" Bruce mustered.**

**"You're welcome" Elliot said. "I'm on it, Bruce. Okay, bye for now." He hung up afterwards.**

**Bruce placed the phone back on its stand and took a sip of his bottled water.**

**"So, is it done then" Alfred asked from the driver's seat.**

**"Yes" Bruce answered. "It will be a night to remember. Thomas Elliot. Remember him, Alfred?"**

**Alfred did remember a young Thomas Elliot, just not the same way Bruce Wayne remembered him.**

**"I would trust him with my life" Bruce mused, "along with you,of course."**

**"Naturally, sir" Alfred retorted snickering as he drove.**

_**Thank God Mr. Ellis loves dogs. **_**Bruce Wayne found his mind wandering as the executive meeting was underway. **_**Who had the balls to bomb Downing Tower? Was it really Al-Queda? The mob was all but done in Gotham and Joker was in Arkham. It wasn't Crane's MMO. Was their somebody trying to make a bigger impression than Joker. If so, so far they were succeeding. There wasn't a calling card, however. No threats. No message. Just a bombing. What the hell? **_**All these thoughts raced through his mind throughout the initial meeting, along with Ace. Everything **_**except **_**the meeting. **

**"Ladies and gentlemen... and Bruce Wayne" Lucius joked at the head of the board table. This gathered short chuckles and thumbs up sign from Bruce. "As you all know, I am greatly intrigued by applied sciences, namely inventions."**

**Yes, everybody, including seemingly inconsequential employees knew of CEO Lucius Fox's love for applied sciences. He regularly held Executive meetings over the things, meetings that should be held for company-wide fiscal announcements, business dealings, and new direction. Yet, it seems Lucius Fox has been trying to push the company, namely Bruce Wayne to accept an innovative future where infared technology doubles as an intristic bulletproof energy field or a car that could hover twenty feet above the ground. All were impractical ideas, at least to these people. They all didn't want to believe that life was passing them by and one day everything they put their stake in would never be as inadequate as they actually were.**

**"As much as I have been embarrassed to have been sneered at and laughed at by the likes of you behind my back for too long now" Lucius entrusted, "I have one more project to present before I give up this little game of mine, once and for all."**

**Daniel Trustings, head of Marketing leaned over to Bruce Wayne and said,"I think the old man is seeing Jason Powers' shadow close in behind him."**

**Bruce turned around at Trustings and said, "Watch yourself, Trustings. Statements like that are apt to remind me that nobody is safe. You remember what happened to dear old Mr. Earle? Do you want a reminder?"**

**Trustings quickly stammered, "Sorry... Sorry, Mr. Wayne. I didn't realize it was you." Bruce's smile only widened.**

"**Our genetics division downstairs have made a tremendous breakthrough" explained Lucius Fox with his sly, coy smile, "as I'm sure you'll all agree." Lucius looked towards the door as somebody entered, almost slamming the door behind them. It was Jason Powers, a tall, lanky and some say brilliant man with glasses that hid a quiet, but sly and yes, they were right, brilliant mind. He carried a suspicious black briefcase. He smiled briefly before walking around the executive table to Lucius Fox. Lucius had always found something to laugh about in the rumors that Powers was attempting to usurp him from his position as CEO at Wayne Enterprises. Powers had worked with Fox closely on this latest project, and he would damned if he wasn't a man he could trust. **

**Now, Powers smiled as he shook hands with Lucius.**

"**It's time, Mr. Fox" Powers said, "It's time to change the world."**

"**Why I believe it is, Jason" Lucius gladly said.**

**They released their handshake and Lucius stepped away as Jason Powers took the floor. **

"**Ladies… gentlemen… and Bruce Wayne" Jason playly chided as he placed the briefcase on the table and ran his hands along its front as if admiring the Holy Grail, "I'm sure you've all heard of the tragedy that has befallen the Downing Communications Tower. May God be with the victims' families and answer their prayers. Which brings me to this."**

**Powers then unlatches the briefcase and pulls a strange device with serrated parts that hooked onto his hand, ran up his arms strangely like veins, and reached up with earplugs that seemed to protect his ears.**

_**It sure does look interesting**_**, Bruce noted. He couldn't figure out what the hell it did. It fit on his hand like a glove, but looked more like a silver gauntlet with claws, covering your nails with some kind of speaker-type port on the palm. It had wires that ran up his arms, which resembled large arteries and of course, earplugs which seemed to protect his ears. They watched with bewildered amusement as Powers removed his suit jacket and placed the device on himself.**

"**I know what this looks like" Powers attempted to explain, "but I assure you, this is not a weapon."**

"**What the hell is it then" asked William Howerton from the Energy Resources **

**division in a not so polite tone.**

"**Umm" Bruce chimed in with, "should we be wearing protective equipment, such as the things you are wearing now?" Bruce was referring to the earplugs.**

"**It is called the Alpha Vector" he explained tightening his earplugs, "the first and hopefully not last development to be born of the GENESIS project. It's functions are harmless to any of you, but as of now I am only told its necessary for the wearer."**

**The GENESIS project. Bruce vaguely remembered the name. Eight months ago, shortly after Bruce Wayne had made Lucius Fox CEO of his company, Lucius had brought Bruce his first "baby" project to be funded. **

**Bruce was paying a visit to the Applied Sciences division, looking for more potential tools for the Batman, when Lucius approached him with "baby" projects to be funded.**

"**Mr. Wayne, I have this project right here" Lucius explained as he moved tools on the workstation to lay out the file. "It's a joint effort by Wayne Genetics and Wayne Manufacturing to create world beneficial projects. It's called GENESIS, and I think it's just the type of direction you would want this company to turn to."**

**What Bruce didn't realize at the time, but would discover later, was that of the files, besides Lucius Fox's chosen researchers and their profiles, but also blueprints for the larger version of the Alpha Vector. Wayne, with other things on his mind, barely even glanced at the files.**

"**Why GENESIS" asked Bruce.**

"**Mr. Wayne" Lucius laid out, "it's called GENESIS because what we're trying to do with these projects is save mankind."**

"**What does mankind need saving from" Wayne asked.**

**Lucius smiled at that. "Oh, Mr. Wayne" he said, "I think you know more than anyone else. From itself."**

**The answer struck home for Bruce and it also hurt a little bit. It also made him suspicious. He was pretty sure Lucius Fox knew who he really was. Lucius was a good friend but he didn't think he could take more people knowing his true identity. He told himself knowing that Lucius knew he was Batman would be distracting for him and drown their friendship. Therefore, Bruce did the thing that he felt would avert the situation entirely.**

"**You know what, Lucius" Bruce said cheerfully, closing the files for what he thought was the last time, "you have helped me so much…"**

"**" Lucius countered, "Please… you've saved my life."**

**Bruce pressed the file against Lucius Fox's chest, where he caught it.**

"**You are going to help me do great things" Bruce stated, "You are the only man who I can trust with my family's legacy. I can't do it. I would destroy it. You would make the Enterprise into something amazing."**

"**Mr. Wayne…" Lucius began.**

"**What do you need, Lucius" Bruce asked. "Money? Done. Anything you think you might need to finally realize your vision, consider it done. You don't have to explain anything to me anymore. I only ask one thing in return."**

"**Of course" said Lucius, "name it, Mr. Wayne."**

"**You do the same for me" said Bruce. "Whatever I ask for, you cooperate with me for without question."**

**Lucius just smiles. "Are you kidding me" he asks, "That only makes it **_**more**_** fun."**

"**After all this time" Bruce said to himself, under his breath, "GENESIS has reared its head at last."**

"**I think it will make much more sense if I demonstrated first" Powers said. He pulled out a Blackberry Curve with his free hand and pressed a single button.**

"**I now take the opportunity to apologize to all of you" Powers stated. "None of you should be here now. I'm sure all of you are aware of the tragedy at Downing Tower. This is yet another blow to the soul of Gotham itself. With so many taken already, one wonders how much the city can take."**

"**Yet, we can make it so tragedies like this never happen again' he continued.**

"**I'm going to ask you again, Powers" Bruce called out again, this time a little frantic this time, "why the hell aren't we wearing earplugs like **_**you**_**?"**

"**I'd prefer you didn't" Powers calmly replied before tapping a button located under the gauntlet on his wrist. The orb on the Alpha Vector emanated with a white light as he pointed his right, gloved palm at the Board of Executives with the casual coolness of a seasoned professional. Bruce Wayne saw a swirling light inside the orb before he heard it. A low, maddening ringing in his ears that he felt like should hurt but actually didn't. Instead he felt an intense serenity. For the first time in his life since his training with the Lady Cassandra and the damn League of Shadows, he felt no pain, mentally or physically. He felt at peace. In fact, like he had let everything in his life go. His burdens, his past, his parents, his sorrow for Harvey and Rachel. Rachel Dawes. He could see a blurry image of her face, but it's fading away.**

"**I chose you" said Rachel Dawes, the lost love of his life to him.**

**He knew what this feeling was now. He was dying. He felt his body and mind slipping away.**

**In seconds, Bruce Wayne was on top of Jason Powers with his hands wrapped around his throat, about to choke the life out of him if he had to.**

"**What the hell are you doing to me" Bruce demanded.**

"**I… I… I'm helping you" Jason choked out.**

"**Mr. Wayne" shouted Lucius as he reached down, trying to wrench Bruce from the top of Jason Powers, which only accomplished in Bruce yanking Powers off the ground, while still being strangled and effectively causing more pain.**

"**Bruce" Lucius called out, "You're killing him!"**

**Bruce now coherent, realized what he was doing and let go, bringing a fit of wheezing and coughing as Jason Powers struggled to breathe and get up.**

**Bruce looked around the room, astonished at what he had done. The executives were staring at him, bewildered.**

"**What was that" Bruce wondered aloud, not feeling like himself.**

"**It was a concentrated radio wave that jumpstarted the cells inside the damaged tissue in your body" Lucius answered. "**_**That**_** was your body being healed of every physical injury occurred upon your body since you were born."**

"**What" Bruce asked.**

"**My chest" said Angelique Davis, head of Wayne Biotech who had her hand against her chest, "my **_**heart**_**. It's beating again. It's beating again!" Angelique Davis was on the donor list for a new heart after discovering she had an impending heart failure.**

"**My God" said an astonished Andrew Watkins, head of Wayne Industries, "my back." Andrew has had semi-crippling arthritis in his back for four years now. Now there was no trace of it.**

**Bruce suddenly realized something. His own body wasn't aching at all, which he had found to be a problem lately. His injuries had caused his body to become a plethora of bruises and scars, yet he found his body felt healthy and great. He strangely doubted he'd be able to find a scar or bruise on his body now. He just feels the best physically and even mentally, other than his shallowly hidden embarrassment because of the fact he nearly murdered his vice-president in front of the executives of his company.**

**Powers was still struggling to retain his breath as Andrew Watkins and Chris Saulderson, head of Wayne Steel rush to him with a glass of water. **

**Lucius stood over a stunned Bruce Wayne.**

"**You feel it too" he said, "Don't you?"**

**Bruce Wayne did feel it. He felt like his body had been honed to the absolute perfection his body had been striving for a long time now.**

"**Lucius," Bruce said, "I think I want to know exactly what project GENESIS is, now."**

**Lucius only smiled and said, "We can definitely do that, ."**


	3. Chapter 3

It was possible the other executives at Wayne Enterprises felt like they were on a class field trip. It could be argued that, in many ways, that they were. Employees working on the GENESIS project at WayneTech Section Ten security level, were nervous to find every head of Wayne Enterprises and Bruce Wayne himself in the midst of their work.

They walked through the halls lead by Lucius Fox, following at a safe distance, far enough to admire the experiments around them but close enough as not to be lost by Lucius. Bruce, eager to know about their findings now, followed side-by-side with Lucius to get his story.

"To be honest, I talked a big game when I proposed the GENESIS project to you" he said, "save mankind, change life as we know it, all of it. I didn't stop to think, 'where the hell do I start'?

"Uh" Bruce thought sarcastically, "You think?" He still felt horrible about strangling Jason Powers in the boardroom. Jason had declined to go with Bruce and the others to meet the Alpha Vector's inventor. He didn't blame him, honestly. Just himself.

Chuckling, Lucius continues, "That is, until I met someone."

"Who" Bruce wondered.

Lucius just smiled his usual, pleasant smile. "I would answer that", he said, "but we're already here."

Lucius stopped at a door at a large, twelve foot tall vault-like door, labeled 'Sec.11'. All the other experiments and projects were behind bulletproof and confined, sterilized glass walls, as the hall was already under high-level classification and few could actually get in. The fact that this project was classified _within_ an already classified hallway said a lot about the project. In the center of the door was a red orb, apparently a optical reader.

Lucius presented his security key and ran through the reader on the side and leaned forward, presenting his eyeball to the optical scanner. Several rays of scanning light flashed back and forth across Lucius' cornea, verifying his identification.

"Welcome to GENESIS, Lucius Malcolm Fox" a mechanized voice called out before the orb revolved counter-clockwise and the door rose at a steady, but careful drag. They were faced with a pretty woman in a yellow HAZMAT suit, carrying a clipboard and unhooded. She stood in front of a colorless, steel wall, curving into a diagonal hall to the right of her. She didn't appear very happy to be there.

"Is this her" Bruce asked Lucius.

"No" Lucius explained, "this is Dr. Heather Allister. Dr. Allister, these people are all the collective heads of Wayne Enterprises; William Howerton, Angelique Davis, Andrew Watkins, Chris Saulderson, Daniel Trustings, Marissa Carlington, Aaron Powell, Geraldine Walters, and this is Bruce Wayne, the man who funds every little thing that you do."

Dr. Allister looked at all of them for a second, blinking. She looks at her clipboard.

"That's nice" she says, not really caring, "Are you ready? The experiment's about to begin. It's quite a show." She casually but fleetingly turned and walked down the hall, leading them.

"After you, Mr. Wayne" said Lucius Fox, waiting for Bruce to lead them. He did.

"The team is lead by Dr. Ramona Stowalters" explained Lucius as they walked down the curving hallway, where they were flanked by a glass wall to their right, "we discovered her as a recruit from Cal Poly. She discovered the cell's reaction to a certain frequency of sound. The cells will then generate and duplicate at an accelerated rate, essentially heal."

"No" Dr. Allister said with a chuckle from ahead of them. She turned around at them as she walked with a smirk. "Not heal" she said, "create. The Alpha Vector can actually _create_ life."

Bruce heard all of this, though his and most of others' collective attention were on the continuous display to his right. Beyond the glass wall was a room built like a miniature rain forest. There were exotic plant-life and rare flowers, even a thirty-foot tall tree. There was also an ominous mist in the room as they was a rain-simulation machine on the ceiling of the room. What really caught their attention though, was the fact that there was several men and women in HAZMAT suits, walking around the giant garden, setting everything on fire with high-powered flamethrowers strapped to their backs.

Dr. Allister brought the group to a control room, where a redhead in an unhooded HAZMAT labeled with the Wayne Chemicals and Genesis logo. Her own suit was red, unlike the others, who wore yellow. She sighed as she entered the last of some data into a computer.

"Ramona" Lucius called.

Ramona Stowalters turned in her chair and her eyes lit up as she saw Lucius Fox. She jumped up and embraced him.

"Lucius" she cooed, "Its been a while since you've been down here. Are you getting too good for the basement?"

"Never" replied Lucius, as he pulled back and led her to Bruce Wayne."Ramona Stowalters, this is Bruce Wayne, majority shareholder, namesake of this company and funder of project GENESIS. Bruce Wayne, this is Ramona Stowalters, the head researcher of project GENESIS, top-level employee of Wayne Chemicals, and inventor of the Alpha Vector. Damn, I am just the CEO of introductions today."

Ramona giggled at that and extended a manicured hand to Bruce. "It's an honor to finally meet you, Mr. Wayne" she said.

"I assure you" he told her, "its mine if you are the mastermind behind the Alpha Vector and it can do what Mr. Fox and Powers claim it can do."

She was a pretty woman. She had auburn red hair that reminded Bruce of a beautiful 1930's movie starlet. She had sparkling green eyes only thinly hidden by spectacles and a light pink gloss that accentuated beautiful lips. She was beautiful in a natural way unlike a model but physically superior to Rachel Dawes, Bruce sadly noted. She was the type to despise makeup. Bruce saw that with just one look at her. She had a very kind smile. It was pleasant.

"Mastermind" she sighed, "me? I just stumbled upon the discovery on accident. It really a leap of faith, really. God's hand. I don't even believe I can take credit for it."

"God's hand, huh" Bruce pondered the statement.

"Mr. Wayne" she began, "have you awoke one morning and felt like a different person, like, you have finally discovered your purpose?"

The questioned stunned Bruce and he struggled for an answer.

"I'm sorry" Stowalters apologized, shaking her head, "I guess what I really mean to say is, do you believe in God, ?"

Bruce thought it over before saying, "For a long time I didn't. Then, this morning hundreds of people died in a terrorist attack."

She gasped. "I heard about that" she exclaimed, "I would have came to see it but I was hard at work on the project. All those people… it's terrible."

"People died, Dr. Stowalters" he continued, "in my city. My home. Now, Powers tested your Alpha Vector on me, and it healed me of not only every physical injury but also every mental injury I had ever incurred in my life. For that, Dr. Stowalters, I thank you. You helped release me." Tears actually welled in Bruce's eyes.

"" Dr. Stowalters began, "please.

"Mr. Wayne" said Lucius, putting a hand on his shoulder, "are you okay."

"I'm sorry about this" Bruce said, "I really am. I… I'm not really myself." He turned his head to wipe his eyes with the back of his right hand.

Ramona simply twisted her head to look up into his face. "This really is affecting you, isn't it" she inquired, "You're not as shallow as the media makes you out to be, are you?"

Slyly, Bruce asks, "Dr. Stowalters, what are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Mr. Wayne" she chirped with a smile, "I can see through you now. I hope you don't take offense but I take a lunch break at noon. I would like you to pick me up so we can talk."

Bruce was taken aback. Was she serious? Did she just ask him out to lunch? An employee of his own company? Didn't she know he was supposedly a busy man? How did she know he didn't probably have a hundred meetings today. He didn't, but how did she know that?

When she sensed his hesitation, she pursued further, "Aren't you curious? How could someone like me create possibly the greatest invention of the last four decades, if not all time? Don't you want to know how I did it?"

That did peak his interest, but he was hesitant. Did he really want to go to lunch with a women he wasn't using for a front? He didn't know.

Smiling at his hesitation, she turned away from him and went to the computer and spoke into the speaker.

"Okay, boys" she said, "I think we've damned all of mankind for the second time now. You can retract now."

The researcher all stopped torching the rainforest and began to file out of the detoxification port on the other side of the room.

"There is so many toxin and pores in a natural rainforest that is usually sealed inside its plants and trees as a natural defense, which is the purpose for the suits. Us burning the forest which we have taken to calling Eden, the reason behind my damnation of mankind pun by the way, releases those potentially fatal toxins and pores into the air, which is why we have the researchers sterilized and decarbonizes on the other side."

Marissa Carlington, director of Wayne Chemicals and Stowalters' direct employer, stated, "Doctor, I would like to speak with you personally about your behavior concerning Mr. Wayne. In the meantime, I believe it is crudely irrational and unsafe to not only plant a goddamn rainforest down here, but to destroy it with fire? That is completely amoral and just plain stupid, godammit! How fatal that could be to the other researchers!"

Ramona waved her arms. "No! No! It's not! I have taken every precaution to make sure that this experiment is completely safe, even to the plant-life!"

"Wait…" said Andrew Watkins, "did she say the… _plant-life_?"

"I don't know" shrugged Aaron Powell, head of Wayne Entertainment, "ask _her."_

"Did you say _plant-life" _said Andrew Watkins to her.

"You really need to just watch" assured Dr. Ramona Stowalters and turned away from them, monitoring the detoxification's statistics. "Mr. Wayne" she said, without looking, "lets see if _this_ sparks your curiosity."

After seeing that all detoxification had reached one hundred percent, she leaned into the speaker again. "Okay, team" Stowalters said "please step from the detoxification chambers. I know it was very painful for all you. I hate you to inform you it was far less painful for you, but our dreams will come to fruition. Your services are greatly appreciated."

They filed out of their respective chambers. They placed their flamethrowers back on the racks.

"Yes" she chimed back on, "please return your flamethrowers."

The flaming forest seemed to rise in its urgency and crackled greatly, eating away from at the various and otherworldly flowers, turning them black and then melting and disintegrating them. The great tree was now set aflame. _The ecologists would surely love this_, Bruce thought.

Stowalters turned and nodded to Dr. Allister, who gave Stowalters a savage, spiteful look before leaving. Dr. Allister found a secondary control room which utilized a different function than Stowalters'.

Into the speakers, Stowalters said, "Administer the coolant extinguishers"

"Administering the coolant extinguishers" Allister echoed back across the speakers. Directly afterwards, a buzzing rung through the room and large turret-like guns descended from the ceiling and sprayed large streams of heavy mists down on the growing fires. Within a minute, the fires were suffocated and put out. They all watched as the large fog cleared.

"Administer the clearing suctioning" commanded Stowalters.

"Administering the clearing suctioning, " Allister echoed again.

As a response, large fans protruded from the walls and began blowing. Within seconds, the windows and the fog was completely cleared out.

When Stowalters was satisfied that every ember had gone out and they had clear view of the entire room, she gave the next command.

"Administer the Alpha Vector Prime" she called. This time she typed in several commands into the computer herself and used her own security card to verify the command. Within seconds, everybody could actually see visible sound vibrations distort the surroundings inside the room visibly and distort their vision. They saw transparent waves descend over the room, and after a few seconds dissipate.

"Did you see that" asked William Howerton.

"Shhhh" replied Marissa Carlington.

Almost immediately, every destroyed plant, flower, vine and the great tree gradually but rapidly grew back to full life within a full minute. After watching the rainforest, they witnessed another grow in its place, cell after cell rebuilt at an accelerated rate. They all described it as the most amazing thing they had ever witnessed. None of them would admit out loud, but they all secretly agreed they had witnessed God at work.

"I take it you have a date for lunch" Lucius commented to Bruce. Bruce was speechless.

Bruce hadn't taken Ramona Stowalters for the type to know a nice, low-key but terrific Italian restaurant in Gotham, but low and behold, she did. She had blown his mind two times in one day. He simply didn't even know what to think of her. He turned his mind to the Alpha Vector and its possibilities. Infinite potential for healthcare. Illnesses and diseases could be cured. Hell, it seemed mundane, but it might be possible to regrow organs. He could finally be behind something his father could be proud of, which is something Batman most definitely didn't achieve.

Alfred had driven Bruce to Corelli's Little Italy with his usual snide remarks.

"Sir, I regret that your father isn't here to give this discussion" he said while driving, "I greatly regret it. However, you see, sir, there is a thing called the birds and the bees. Now, as you know it is a bees instinct to pollinate a flower…"

"Shut up, Alfred" Bruce interrupted, "just shut up."

"Wow, that wasn't nice" Alfred perceived, "Master Bruce, have you ever been on a date?"

"I've been on a date" Bruce said. Then again to reassure himself, "I have been on dates."

Alfred just chuckled as he parked in front of the restaurant and put the car in park.

"Play nice" he commented.

"Thanks, Judas" Bruce replied before stepping out, "you're just like Lucius."

She was waiting for him at a private booth, she had reserved for them. She smiled a wide, revealing smile and waved to him when she saw him. He took a seat.

"I know that this might not be the usual place for you" she said rubbing her hands together. "You're probably into more high-profile restaurants, I'm just not the usual girl you're into. I didn't think" she drunk the entire glass of water that she had on the table in two gulps, then continued, "I didn't think that you'd want… I didn't think you'd want to be seen with me."

She was nervous. Where had all that confidence she had exhibited earlier gone?

"Well" Bruce said, "I know I do have a reputation. All that really doesn't matter to me, though. Especially during the day. Look, I really love this restaurant anyway. I've been coming here since I was a kid."

He liked that answer. It would comfort her, as well as protect his appearance. It was perfect.

"Well, that's great" she said, sighing, "are you ready to order?"

"Sure" Bruce replied and waved over the waitress.

She skulked over, notepad in hand and came to their table.

"Yes" she said, "What may I get… oh my god, you're Bruce Wayne."

"For a really nice tip" he answered, "I'm James Hunter. A _really _nice tip."

"Okay, Mr. Hunter. What would you be having."

"Well" he said, thinking, "I'll be having the chef's special Parmesan Lasagna with black pepper. Also a bread stick and garlic butter sautee."

The waitress looked expectantly at Dr. Stowalters, who looked at her menu, then sighed and smiled at them.

"I'll have what he's having" she decided.

"And to drink, sir" she asked Bruce.

"Just a water" he replied.

"Can I refill your water for you, ma'am" she asked Stowalters.

"Sure" Stowalters said with a nod.

The waitress took her glass, their menus and departed.

"It's a good thing that not many people outside of my social circles really know my face" Bruce stated, turning back to Ramona, laughing to himself, seeing as he had no social circles.

"James Hunter" she admired, "resilient and painfully handsome."

"Aah" he observed, "she returns. The confidence that knocked me off my guard in the first place."

"What can I say" she said, looking down for a moment, "Its one thing inviting you to lunch but its another thing to actually have you here. Well, I made you a promise that I intend to deliver."

"What do you mean" Bruce wondered.

"You know" she said, "the great story of my Alpha Vector. It didn't happen in one night, you know. It is a story to remember, I have to say."

"I was gifted with science" she explained, gulping the remainder of the water from her glass and setting it down again, "even at a young age. I was only twelve when I won the Massachusetts State Science Fair." Bruce noted to himself that their food had arrived a little over five minutes ago, yet she hadn't even glanced at it. She only absently drank her glass of water. In fact, she was already on her third glass.

Forking a mouthful of lasagna, he asked, "If you don't mind me asking, with what did you win the… _Massachusetts _Science Fair?"

Looking away and giggling, she suddenly became shy. "Oh, you wouldn't believe me" she told him. "And stop making fun of me" she added.

"Come on" he pleaded, "didn't you want me to know more about you? Wouldn't that include so-called embarrassments. I mean, am I wrong or am I right?"

She wasn't forthcoming and just looked at him.

He clasped his hands together in a comically, pleading fashion. She laughed at it, snorting and covering her mouth. Anybody who knew who he was would recognize that this wasn't a normal thing for him to do, to even _pretend _to beg for anything. Anybody who didn't know him very well would still believe that begging to a lowly Dr. Ramona Stowalters was beneath him. He didn't care. Something about her drew him to her like a gravitational pull or a black hole. He just couldn't help himself. He also found her very attractive. She wasn't as physically beautiful as most of the women he "dated", but neither was Rachel. No, instead they had a brilliance about them that radiated about both them that separated them from most women. They were both powerful and they really had limitless potential in all facets of life. Bruce could see this in Dr. Stowalters and he just met her.

Her demeanor turned serious and her smile faded as she pushed her glasses onto the bridge of her nose.

"Okay" she said, solemnly, "you want to play this game? I found a way to reverse cancer."

Bruce laughed at that. She couldn't be serious. _Reverse _cancer? There was no cure for cancer. It was an uncontrollable defect in cells that as far as he knew was irreversible. Destroyable. Yes. Reversible? No? Then, she was trying to have him believe that she had accomplished this at _twelve_. Then again, she had created a machine that can regenerate cells at a seemingly impossible rate. She was drumming her fingers on the table, irritably. He had succeeded in pissing her off. That's why he faked lunches, dinner and relationships. He was truly horrible at them.

"I'm sorry" Stowalters said, "did I say something funny?"

"No, Doctor" he said, leaning forward, "I'm just interested. If you found a way to reverse cancer, why keep it to yourself? Why isn't it being applied to medicine to every hospital in the world today?"

"I used to ask myself that very question everyday" she said, leaning back, "but as you can see, I found something better."

"How did it work" Bruce asked, "you curing cancer, I mean."

She smiled at that.

"It was rather primitive now that I think about it" she said. "Cancer may be argued and slaved over by biologists for years, but it really all comes down to one simple factor: cells multiply and build all organic things. Yet, as new cells are created, the old are supposed to die. Cancer is what happens when the cells refuse to die. They mutate and lose all their old functions: fight bacteria, carry glucose, hold RNA and then they just multiply. They _keep _multiplying until they create tumors. The mutations are caused by an gene called an oncogene, which allow a cell to stay alive long enough to mutate. Normally, these cells are called proto-oncogenes and their function is to actually regulate cell growth but in a stable manner. They are attached to proteins. There has never been a way to break down a gene. However, you can break down a protein."

She looked at him expectantly, asking him, "Are you following, Mr. Wayne?"

"Yeah" he said, slowly nodding, "I'm picking up on everything you're saying so far, but I just don't see where you're going with this."

"Come on" she exclaimed, startling Bruce and several others in the restaurant, causing them to look at her. "Really, Mr. Wayne! I was _twelve _at the time, dammit! Are you seriously not following me! I demonstrated a way to break down an oncogene-infested protein. Without the protein, the expression process to mutate into oncogenes is interrupted and they revert back into proto-oncogenes. All of this was done with pancrelipase and a simple, generic enzyme enhancer. It was precise and easily administered unlike radiation, which is such overkill."

"Now, you sound like a scientist" Bruce commented. "Why didn't the judges recruit you into their scientific community and turn you into their prodigy?"

"Shut up" she said, before drinking more water, "Well, first of all, the procedure is so dangerous. Protein is such a necessary building block to the human body. I mean, it is still a much more rewarding and less painless procedure than chemotherapy would be but it would cost so much more. How much of your body are you really ready to destroy until you can live a normal life?"

"So how did this bring us to the Alpha Vector" Bruce asked.

"I guess it all began with my father" she said simply.

Alexander Stowalters was a brilliant geneticist whose name was highly regarded in the scientific community, one of the reason why his daughter's simple and brilliant yet monstrous solution to cancer won the award at one of the most prestigious science fairs in the nation. The free thinkers may have secretly looked down on Ramona's cruel gift to mankind, but the idea intrigued her father. He seeked for ways to refine it and simply couldn't find a way.

One day, little Ramona Stowalters at the age of fourteen brought Dr. Alexander Stowalters his daily lunch of a ham and cheese sandwich, Doritos, and a Barq's Root Beer. It made no difference as the good doctor barely ever noticed this and more often than not, Ramona would return to the lab in their basement later to discover her carefully prepared lunch untouched.

"Dad" Ramona said to him in his lab-basement one day, "why are you still working on that same old outdated method?"

"Well" Dr. Stowalters wondered angrily of his young daughter, "what do you suggest?!"

"Why try to reverse when you can make a body unable to produce cancer or any illness, for that matter" young Ramona wondered. The proposal struck a cord and revealed his daughter's vast potential to him. For the next three years, the two worked to create a specialized enzyme called Divinity A to rebuild and regenerate cells simultaneously. They one day succeeded. Under Lucius Fox's GENESIS project, she found a way to emit the enzymes into the air through sound waves, directly into the body via the ear canal, nervous system and bloodstream.

"So, you and your father created the Alpha Vector" Bruce summarized, "and it all began from a science project where you found a chaotic cure for cancer." She simply nodded.

"What happened to your father" Bruce asked.

"He died a long time ago" she replied solemnly

"I'm sorry to hear that" Bruce said, placing his hand on hers, "I know what it feels like to lose a parent." Why did he do that? Why was he acting this way with her? He didn't know. All he knew was that he just wanted to comfort her and tell her he knew her pain. He wanted to make her feel as good as the Alpha Vector made him feel.

She pulled her hand away. She checked her watch.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Wayne" she said hastily getting up, almost knocking over her chair, "I really have to get back to the lab. There are still more tests to be done concerning the Alpha Vector. Can I count on your funding?"

"Without question, Doctor" Bruce said, winningly, "what you're doing can potentially save the world. I'll be damned if I didn't have anything to do with that, let alone directly prevent that."

She stopped. "Thank you very much" she said, honestly.

He stood up and they shook hands eagerly.

"I don't know how I'll ever be able to thank you" she said.

"How about dinner tonight" he offered, "I'm throwing a charity banquet for the families in the Downing Incident tonight. I would love for you to come."

"I can't" she said, "I have very important work in the lab tonight."

"Maybe you can put it off for one night" he asked, "Come…"

"No" she said suddenly, looking at him with serious eyes. "I really have to go. Thank you again." With that, she walked briskly out of the restaurant.

_Of course, I'll take the check_, he thought. _I mean I knew I would, but we could've at least talked about it, dammit._

It might not seem right to some, but to them it was a necessary evil. Montoya was the one to knock on the door. They only had to knock twice before Barbara Gordon answered. It was a quarter 'til nine. She had gotten home from work as a fourth grade teacher several hours earlier but she was still exhausted. She had been sleeping badly due to nightmares lately. They presented their badges to her.

"Ma'am" Agent Montoya said, "I'm Agent Montoya and this is Agent Flanagan. Is Commissioner Gordon home this evening?"

"No, I'm afraid he's not" Barbara said, pretending to be disappointed. "He's at a charity banquet tonight, but usually he'd be in his office. The police commissioner is a very important position."

"I'm sure it is" Montoya answered, crossing her arms, "may I see some identification, please?"

Barbara was dumbfounded by the sudden inquiry into her person. "Ye-Yes, let me just see if I can find it." When she began to creep from the door, they began to chuckle and snicker at her.

"I'm sorry" Flanagan apologized, waving a hand and dismissing the notion, "we don't need your ID. We know who you are. We're just terrible."

"What" a confused Barbara asked.

"We do have a few questions for _you_, though" Flanagan continued.

"Like, tell us about the Batman" Montoya said, "we know you had an encounter with him. He threatened your family right before he threw Harvey Dent to his death."

"It sounds like you already know what you need to know" Barbara said.

"What does he looks like" Flanagan asked. "Is he really a giant bat or something?"

"No, he's a man in a goddamn bat-suit" Barbara answered vehemently.

"So, he's just a psychopath" Flanagan noted, writing it in a notepad he took out. "Duly noted" he said, "this helps, Mrs. Gordon."

"Other than being a psychopath" Montoya continued, "what do you think his motives were? From what you can tell. Anything would help."

"How the fuck would I know" yelled Barbara.

"Mom" called Cody, her son in a concerned voice.

"Oh, Cody" Barbara squatted down and hugged him, "Go play in the other room with your sister."

"You must be Cody" Flanagan said in a falsely playful voice, "My god you sure do look like your father."

"Cody" Barbara said, pushing him away, "go now."

She stood and faced the two agents.

"Okay, you two need to leave now" she said.

"That's fine" Flanagan said, raising his arms, "Just be sure to give him this."

He handed her his contact card at the FBI office. "I haven't been able to get in touch with him, lately. Okay have a good day, Mrs. Gordon." With that, the agents turned and walked back down the stairs.

"Well, that was fun" said Montoya as they descended the stairs.

"Indeed, it was" answered Flanagan as he sighed. "I guess you know what we're going to have to do."

"Hell yeah I do" she replied as they got to the bottom and headed down the street to their car, "I mean we have to know the truth. We're just not getting it from these people."

"We're going to have to trap the Batman" he said with a wide smile. This brought laughter from her as they got in their car.

Barbara watched them from her living room window, getting their car, starting it and driving off. _Just how desperate is the Bereau in catching Batman_, she wondered. She answered her own question. _Desperate enough to let those two off of their respective leashes._

Ballard Hall was where the charity banquet was taking place. The event was hosted and funded by Bruce Wayne and the Wayne Foundation. Even as the event was called on short notice, Mayor Garcia, several celebrities and various the victims' families were attending.

"Mr. Wayne" said a teary-eyed Marlene Winters after an embrace, "thank you so very much for this. This, of course doesn't take away any of my pain…"

"But it helps to know that people care" Bruce finished for her. She nodded to answer. She was the wife of Christian Winters, a producing executive at NBC Gotham, which was housed at Downing Tower. He pulled her deeper to his chest and let her find comfort there. She sobbed. He had done something similar to this several times earlier and knew he would several times more before the end of the night. He didn't mind, he only remembered what it was like to be held like this after his parents were taken away from him. At an opportune time, he looked past her shoulder at Alfred, who watched them and raised a glass of champagne at Bruce.

It was great, fundraising ball as over fifty million dollars had already been made in donations. Bruce tapped his wine glass with a fork to cap the night.

"I would like to thank everybody for coming out, tonight" he said, "I would like very much like to show the Winters family, the Porter family, the Ashford family, the Robinsons, all of the victims of this tragedy that never should have happened in the first place, how much I feel for their sorrow. This is why I am donating twenty million dollars to the Wayne Foundation, which I am ensuring is moving towards benefiting the victims of today's events."

This caused an outbreak of claps and applause from around the room. This was unprecedented and Bruce was expecting to donate ten million, which was largely much more than anyone would expect. Yet, Bruce Wayne had doubled that amount. Many of the victims couldn't even express their appreciation.

"The stockholders are going to love this" Lucius said later.

"I don't give a fuck" Bruce retorted, sipping a bottle of water, "it made me feel better."

"I never judged" Lucius said pleasantly. "I just don't think the shareholders and the Board are going to take this very well."

Bruce finished off his water and looked to the bartender, who threw him another one. "Lucius" he said, "you sound my lawyer right about now, and thank God I haven't even told him about this yet. It gives me a reprieve. You're CEO. You'll deal with the Board. As for the shareholders, I'm still the ruling body. They'll do whatever I say, they trust me."

Lucius cocked an eyebrow at that statement.

"Well" Bruce admitted, opening his new water bottle and taking a gulp, "at least they should."

"Sir" Alfred called from behind Bruce, startling him, "there's a fine, young woman who would like to meet you."

Before even looking, Bruce said, "Alfred, come on. Really, I can't." He simultaneously turned to look at him but was instead faced with an extravagantly beautiful raven-black haired woman in a silver dress. She stared ravenously at Bruce as if trying to decide whether she would be having her steak rare with onions or well-done with a beer.

"Hello" she said, finally with the extension of her left hand, "I'm Selina Kyle. I've been dying to meet you."


	4. Chapter 4

He had heard of her. If he was correct, then she was a luxurious model. High class. Yet, then why was she here? This was a charity banquet. It might be good publicity, but then where was her agent? An agent would of course shadow the client to make sure they didn't screw things up. Her agent was nowhere to be seen. Just her smiling the slyest, sexiest smile he had ever witnessed as her slender hand held his.

"Wow" Selina said coolly, "you really are as handsome as they say. Much more, actually. Just, wow."

"Thank you" Wayne replied, almost yanking his hand back. "Bruce Wayne."

"I know who you are. I thought you were a bigot. Who knew you actually had a heart? You do have one, don't you?"

"I assure you, Ms. Kyle, I have a heart. I just gave away twenty million dollars."

"That doesn't convince me, Mr. Wayne. Some have more reasons than kindness to give away twenty million dollars. A political ploy, maybe?"

Bruce, at that moment, raised an eyebrow at Alfred. Alfred looked apologetic. He had been fooled into believing she really wanted to meet Bruce Wayne out of some kind of attraction. He didn't have the patience for this right now. He would not be chastised for doing the right thing.

"I would really like to thank all of you for all of your help on this project" Dr. Ramona Stowalters said into the intercom, as Eden had grown to proportions they had anticipated from the beginning. It filled the room so much, she could barely see inside it.

"Of course, there's always more research to be done but I believe as far as the Alpha Vector goes. Our project is complete. You all can go home for the night. I really can't thank you all enough for this. We can truly save the world with this research. God is smiling on us. I know it." In her control room, she shut off the intercom and began to grab her lab reports and stuffing them into her duffel bag. She didn't realize her longtime rival was fast approaching her. She did hear the cocked gun that she held. She turned to find Dr. Heather Allister in a white HAZMAT suit with her hood off, aiming a 9MM Smith & Wesson at her head. Dr. Allister uncocked the gun and smiled.

"I've always wanted to do this" she said. With that, she upturned the gun and drove it into Dr. Stowalter's glass face shield and smashing it into her face.

"I'm sorry that you have that impression of me" Bruce said simply, "nothing I can do about it. If you'd excuse me, I have others tonight who I'd like to speak to." He tried to walk away.

"Don't even pretend to be hurt" she called after him. "Everybody in Gotham knows what kind of man Bruce Wayne is and he isn't even here tonight! Whoever this man is, he is an alien to us! So, tell me, who are you?" She placed a hand on her hip. He just looked at her. Others were curiously watching.

Culprits were unplugging of her equipment, everything that was Alpha Vector-related in the lab. There were fifteen of them, making it much easier. The only way they could have gotten into the top-level security lab was if they had somebody on the inside to get them in. That was where Dr. Heather Allister and her lover, Dr. Victor Naughton, came in. Dr. Heather Allister continued to beat on Dr. Ramona Stowalters, kicking her now, as Naughton directed the others into packing everything.

"Okay, fellas" he said, "Be easy with that! That's millions of dollars and eight years worth of hard work! No reason for it to go to waste!"

Chris Pardo, a thug formerly working for the mob had found himself out of work lately thanks to certain man in a bat-suit. He now worked for a different outfit, with a larger goal in mind. He approached his new boss, Victor Naughton.

"Hey, boss" he said, "where is Allister?"

"Letting out a little pent-up frustration" Naughton said with a chuckle. "A lot, actually. " He checked his watch. "We really should be making our leave now" he said.

Lucius Fox stood beside Bruce Wayne. "Good luck" he said, patting him on the shoulder. "Our little project is supposed to make conclusive research tonight. I'll pop on over and check up on it."

"I want a detailed report in the morning, Lucius" Bruce said, "I want to know _everything_."

"Done" Lucius said, before walking away.

"What do you want from me" Bruce asked Selina Kyle.

"I just want to know who you really are" she told him. "I won't leave you alone until I know. I'm persistent and I'm incorrigible. Ask my agent and manager."

They were distracted when a man on the stage, grabbed a microphone.

"Excuse me" he told the room, "if I can get everybody's attention, I would like everybody to give Bruce Wayne a round of applause to show our appreciation for this great charity event. He has made a more than generous donation! In turn, us at Downing International have decided to follow and donate this beauty to Wayne Foundation! I would like to introduce you all to what we call the Frozen Bunny!"

Two men put on display with a glass pedestal, a ten-inch tall and foot-thick rabbit sculpture made of diamond. _Son of a bitch_, thought Bruce. Wide range of applause and gasps had filled the room. _That must be worth more than twenty million dollars_, he sourly thought. He turned to look at Selina Kyle to see what she thought of "The Frozen Bunny", but she was gone.

"You brought this on yourself, really" Dr. Allister said as she poured gasoline on all of Dr. Stowalter's files, data and computers. A beaten, bleeding and moaning Ramona tried to push herself up but fell down again, weak. "You give salvation to the world, you really should be prepared to have another take credit for it" Heather said. "I never did like you, and I realized this year that what I did was _hate_ you, but you really did give us a way to save everything. It's a shame you won't be around to see it." With that, Allister lit a flare and threw it at the computers before kicking Dr. Stowalters in the face, again.

An hour later, the event was over and Bruce Wayne was Batman again. He stood on a rooftop not far from Ballard Hall, waiting for Commissioner Gordon to make an appearance. When he finally did climb up the stairs, he was a little irritated.

"What took so long" Batman demanded.

"Sorry" Gordon apologized, "Personal problems. I don't want to bother you with them."

"Do you have anything about the Downing bombings today?"

"My boys do, actually, but there is a slight problem."

"What is that, exactly?" Batman asked.

"There is a tape. The terrorists made it."

"Demands?"

"Not exactly. They're not Al-Queda or anything like that. They're more about ecology than actual human fear?"

"Then why destroy the Downing Tower and take a thousand lives?"

"To be honest, I've seen the tape and I don't understand it myself."

"Can you get me the tape" Batman asked.

"I wish I could, Batman" Gordon said, "but my hands are tied."

"Why not" asked Batman.

"I may be the top police official in the city, Batman, but if I were to demand well-hidden evidence, do you think that they wouldn't ask questions?! The commissioner's purpose isn't sifting through videotapes and drug money! My plates already too full! They wouldn't trust me anymore! Why do you think nothing of it has made into the media at all?! It is _under_ wraps!"

Batman thought this over for a second. "Could you get me the exact location of the videotape, then?"

"Yeah" Gordon said, "I could do that."

Batman happened to glance out over the street, when something down below caught his eye.

"By the way" Gordon said, pacing around, "great job on the Maroni arrests yesterday. You have dismantled the mob in this city. They were crippled before, but they are destroyed now. There's no coming back for them now. We have them for drugs, prostitution, and organ harvesting. They're finished. All thanks to a man in a Bat-suit…"

"and a black mask" said Batman absently, watching the street below for movement. Then, he saw it. In the distance, he could see a figure that was _climbing_ up the glass walls of Ballard Hall. Who was it? Spider-man?

"It looks like the dawn is almost here" Gordon said, "just like Dent said it would be. Other than the horrendous bombing today. I wish he were here to see this today."

It wasn't that Batman wasn't listening, it was just something more important was happening.

"Commissioner, call some backup" he said, leaning over the ledge, "somebody's breaking into Ballard Hall." With that, he jumped out expelling his grappling wire for Ballard Hall.

She moved with the sleek dexterity of a cat, as she had used suction pads on her hands and feet to climb the walls of Ballard Hall. Her trained movements made absolutely no sound and her synthetic latex suit was ideal for silent, athletic movement. Her equipment was lightweight but efficient, able to be carried on her and her belt. Seeing as she has adored cats since the age of four almost obsessively, it wasn't a far stretch to figure out why her outfit resembled a cat, with four-inch long, razor-sharp claws and cat ears on the top of her head. She even wore contacts that gave her eyes a steely green tint that was characterized by the predatory slant of a cat.

Officer Brad Hunning was the ground floor guard. His partner, Fairwell had been relieved to use the bathroom. That was their mistake. Catwoman, which she had taken to calling herself, slinked on the ceiling above him. She had already taken out the guard in the security room. Using the security cameras, she discovered there were only two more guards. Two ground floor watchmen. She had taken care of Fairwell as well, she had beaten Fairwell in the bathroom. Not exactly the way she liked to do things, she had to admit, but she had concluded that she had no choice. Taking the right opportunity when Hunning stopped his go-over of the ground floor, she dropped behind him. She kicked back of his knees, causing his legs to buckle under him. She then takes his night-stick from his belt and gives him a crushing blow to the temple, knocking him unconscious. Now she had nothing to worry about.

She made her way to the vault now. This was of course where the Wayne Foundation's fundings were being kept, including the infamous Frozen Bunny, which had peaked Catwoman's interest.

"Raww" Catwoman moaned at the vault, anticipating becoming much more rich than she already was. She grabbed a highly-magnetized glove from her belt, pulling it onto her right hand, using a combination of her left hand and her teeth. She turns the knob setting to its maximum level, satisfied at hearing the soft, elevating hum as it rose in power. She felt a strong pull towards the door. It was experimental technology, courtesy of LexCorp. She used her left hand to guide it towards where the lock should be on the door. She felt the tension of a large piece of metal, clinging to the glove on the other side of the door. Using tense, circular motions she pulled the lock out of place, unlocking the vault door. It was illuminated by a loud, clanging sound. She purred at the anticipation. Taking the setting back to off, she took the glove off. She put it back in place on her belt, before turning the vault wheel to the left five times and grunting as she pulled the door open. Using her flashlight, she looked for her prize. The Frozen Bunny should have been in the center of the room on a glass pedestal. However, it wasn't there.

"It isn't Easter yet" called a menacing, raspy voice to left of her. She jumped and turned the flashlight on it. She saw Batman, who had his arms, holding the Frozen Bunny out in his left hand.

"I know" said Catwoman, focusing her cat-eyes at him, "but nevertheless, I want my eggs." She then took out a .50 Cal Glock and thumbed back the hammer, pointing it at him. "Now hand over the damn bunny."

"Fine" said Batman, and with precision he threw the Frozen Bunny across the room and knocked the gun from her hand. He then jumped to her, only to be kicked in the gut by a bladed-heel and hit in the face with a flashlight. He caught her other fist in his arms and sent her sprawling to the floor. She rolled backwards, only to roll forward catching enough momentum to flip through the air and kick him in the chest with both legs, causing him to stagger backwards. She then took a stance in Tae Kwon Do, faking him out with a left back kick fake , turning it into a roundhouse kick to the face. It knocked him to his knees. She chuckled and grew overconfident, expelling her claws which gleamed in the pale moonlight which seeped through the open vault door, coming towards him, intending to slash his face. Instead, he used his arms to pull her legs out from under her. He then pulled her under him and held her down with his body weight. She struggled beneath him, before stopping and just looking into his eyes.

"Who are you" he demanded of her.

"Somebody who's not afraid of you" she told him. "Mmm, are you going to take advantage of me now, you Caped Crusader you?"

"Answer me!"

"Your voice. You can drop it. It doesn't scare me, you know. In fact, it only succeeds in turning me on. Go on, put your hands a little lower and find out how much."

"Do you have a name or not, crazy woman?!"

"That's Catwoman to you. You know, like Batman? You can call me a secret admirer of yours. The only thing I like more than thievery and sex is a man who isn't afraid to dress like a bat and kill mobsters and cops." She laughs at that.

He squeezes her body, causing her to moan. "Ugh" she groans, "I like it rough."

"Shut up" He yelled at her. "I'm leaving you for the cops!"

"Sorry" she said with a smile, "no."

Then without warning, she slipped her right hand out of her arms and pulled his head close to hers, until they were almost kissing. Instead she drives her own head upwards for a crunching head butt. She repeats it, driving her forehead into the soft spot of his skull until he grows dizzy and weak. She throws his arms off of her and rolls out from under him. Ears ringing and barely able to look up, he sees her grab her gun, her flashlight and the Frozen Bunny. She then comes back to him. He sees a small stream of blood seeping down her head onto her lips. She wipes it away.

"Thanks for the present" she told him, "Goodnight, Bat." She then kicked him in the face and everything went black for him.

Alfred made his usual breakfast of English toast, jelly, sasuage, orange juice and potatoes. Only now, it wasn't for a brooding Bruce Wayne or even a giddy Bruce Wayne. It was a beaten Bruce Wayne on his sickbed. As long as Alfred had known Master Bruce, he had never lost a fight. What was so different now?

"She was a woman" Bruce told him with ice on his head.

"Oh" Alfred said, setting the tray down in front of him, "that makes sense."

Seeing, the smile on Alfred's face, Bruce asked, "What" he said, "you think you would have fared better?"

"Oh god no, Master Bruce" Alfred said, walking off, "I just don't think I would have admitted to it."

"She was _so_ trained, Alfred" he said, "No wasted movement. Everything I did, she had a counter for it. She was even toying with me. It was pissing me off. Then she came onto me."

Alfred raised an eyebrow. "I see" he said.

"Will you stop that, Alfred" he asked.

"I was just thinking Master Bruce" Alfred began, "if you were looking to find another person in your life without giving up these knightly crusades, maybe you should find somebody who _can _do that with."

"Alfred" Bruce said.

"Understood" Alfred said, quickly, "would like anything else, sir?"

"No" Bruce replied, "that would be all, Alfred?"

With that, Alfred left the room. Bruce began to eat his food, but was distracted when he heard Alfred chuckling in the hall. Bruce couldn't help but laugh himself. Laugh now, find this Catwoman and exact revenge later. The Frozen Bunny wasn't just an artifact of greed. He needed it to help victims and he'd be damned before he saw it pawned or become some criminal's trophy.

Sometime later, Alfred returned beside Bruce Wayne's bed to inform him that Lucius Fox had arrived to give him some news.

"Please send him in, Alfred" he said, "thank you."

Alfred exited the room and seconds later, Lucius entered.

"What happened to you" Lucius asked.

"Just a little sick. Very bad migraines. What's up?"

"I hate to bring this upon you, especially now. I have bad news about Project GENESIS and Dr. Stowalters. Also, you should look at the news. We screwed up, Mr. Wayne. We screwed up badly."


	5. Chapter 5

It was all over the news. "Oh my God" Alfred was forced to say, "that is just impossible."

Bruce was too angry to answer Alfred. This could not have happened. Who could do this? What bastards.

Bruce Wayne, Lucius Fox and Alfred Pennyworth were all in Bruce's living room of the top level of his condo building, which he owned the entirety of. On Bruce's fifty-inch HD plasma-screen TV, they all see the story of the day: apparently, an indescribably, enormous one hundred foot tall tree that looked like it was torn right out of the screen and pages of Jurassic Park had grown overnight in the _exact_ location of the Downing Tower's downfall.

"I… I…I…" reporter Vicki Vale stammered at the site, staring at the tree, half-turned to the camera, over the background of firefighters and police attempting to clear the streets of onlookers.

"Will you just spit it out, already" Bruce found himself shouting at her, the screen really.

"That isn't very professional of her" Alfred noted.

"I am speechless" Vicki found herself admitting onscreen. "I truly am speechless. I know viewers of NBC can expect my searing wit and jarring remarks, but right now, I am truly drained. What can I possibly say to _this_? Look at it, people of Gotham, it is truly beyond words. In _exactly _the same place Downing Tower was attacked yesterday. Is this part of a terrorist attack? Or is it an act of God?"

"Bullshit" Bruce Wayne seethed.

_That was really convenient, wasn't it, _he thought. _It wasn't there yesterday. Now, a giant tree as tall as the tallest building and three times as thick has grown in my city. Coincidently, the results of Project GENESIS are either stolen or destroyed, including the Alpha Vector and all of its incarnations. A device that can rapidly regenerate cells at an rate never before seen or imagined is suddenly stolen. The very next morning, the largest tree man has ever seen suddenly appeared in the place of a recently bombed communications tower. Obviously, the bastards who had taken the Alpha Vector were none other than the terrorists or at least associated with them. Two of them, according to Ramona Stowalters through Lucius Fox, had been Dr. Heather Allister and Dr. Victor Naughton, two geneticists on Dr. Stowalter's staff. She had trusted them. Well, it was a lead. First, he do a thorough background check, then he would go after them in the daylight, if he had to. Damn, I have enough on my plate. This Catwoman has the Frozen Bunny and I can't let her get away with that. Also, Gordon has a growing distrust of me. Why? I don't know where it started but every time we meet, I can see always studying, as if he thinks I'll eventually break under the pressure. He's wrong. I'll never break._

Dr. Ramona Stowalters was in the hospital now with eight broken bones and fractures to her body, including her ribs, nose, breast bone, several fingers on her left hand. Bruce Wayne intended to visit her sometime this morning. That was if he could ever make it through the traffic. Bruce was driving himself in his Mercedez Benz. Everything was held back because of that damn tree. The Wayne Foundation was looking to help rebuild the Downing Network Tower. That couldn't happen if there was a giant tree there. Using his Bluetooth, he answered his phone.

"This better be good" Bruce said immediately.

"Oh it is, old friend" his lawyer, Thomas Elliot offered. "Your empire just expanded in girth. A very lucrative venture, I might add. Sionis Cosmetics. You ever heard of it?"

"Tommy, I don't have time for this."

"Well, you just acquired it. All the paperwork is done and signed, not without a little difficulty of course. I don't know much about it except it's a big up and comer in the makeup and fashion industry, and that all the models and actors seem to use the shit."

"Tommy" Bruce breathe and exhaled, "You handle my side investments and dealings. I would give you my usual pat on the back for your good work but I have more important matters at the moment. Goodbye."

"Wait…" Elliot tried to continue, only Bruce hung up. He didn't answer the phone again, although it rang quite a few more times.

"What are you going to do" Lucius asked Bruce, who sat on his sofa, silently watching the remainder of the news. He wasn't actually watching the news but just so deep in his thoughts to care whether the TV was on or off. He was absorbing everything that had happened in such a short time. He had just put an end to the mob in Gotham once and for all. Now, he was dealing with terrorists. He had already hacked into Arkham Asylum's database. The Joker was still there. He would have already made himself known anyway. He heard Lucius' question.

"First" Bruce said at last, "I'm going to go visit Dr. Stowalters in the hospital. I have to find out the _full _capabilities of the Alpha Vector. I think its very obvious that it was used on the Downing Tower."

"Yes" Lucius admitted.

"How it grew a prehistoric tree out of the ground" Bruce said, "I don't know. The seeds must have already been there, all they needed was the means to grow it. I need some samples of it. I'll do that. Also, I need to know if that thermal-stealth tech suit you've been working on is complete."

"Has been for a while, Mr. Wayne" Lucius said with a smile.

"Good" Bruce said, "I'll have Alfred pick it up."

"Well, I'll be off then" Lucius said, checking his watch. "Give Dr. Stowalters my apology for not coming. Tell her I wish her to get well."

An hour later, Bruce was at Gotham Medical Center, in Ramona Stowalters' room with a bouquet of Tulips.

"Oh, for me, Mr. Wayne" Dr. Stowalters said with a sideways glance and lighting a cigarette in her hospital bed. "I must have declined to tell you but I hate flowers."

Bruce nodded and threw the tulips into the trashcan bin. "I didn't take you for a smoker" he noted.

"I don't usually" she said, inhaling it. "I just need to calm down a little bit, I think. It just makes me so angry. That bitch, Heather Allister took everything I've worked so hard on for so many years. It was the product of the blood and sweat of my father and I. It pisses me off so much when I even begin to think of all the sadistic shit she's doing with my creation right _now._"

The SunKing Corporation is a very profitable corporate giant that owns three of the leading gas suppliers in the world. Their headquarters, like Wayne Inc., was based in Gotham City. Today, was the day that the Board of Directors was scheduled to meet and though the topic was hard to avoid, the recent incident that had occurred that morning involving a terrorist attack and a giant tree, was largely avoided.

The Board consisted of a Congressman, an worldwide investor, among eight other just as financially-wealthy leaders and investors. They had their honest conversations, sidebars and long gulps of iced water going when four armed-mercenary types stormed the board room.

"Nobody move" one of them shouted, as they all aimed their rifles at the Board members, who were shocked. Some of the women were screaming and the men were largely left motionless.

"Please" Greg Parker, "a doctor from New York begged. "We have money. Just name your price."

"Don't worry, Doctor" said a woman from behind the mercenaries, who made her way through, along with a man, "This won't take up too much of your time. I just have a few words to share and you can continue your little destructive campaign." The woman was Dr. Heather Allister and the man was Dr. Victor Naughton. They wore camoflauge pants like the mercenaries and black body armor like the mercenaries they now employed.

"Why" she asked, approaching them with her armed men in tow, whose weapons were steadily trained on them. "Why are you trying to destroy everything that was given to you?!" She walked around them, circling them with a dangerous hunger of a vulture in her eyes.

"Lady…" Frank Pearson, a real estate developer from Ohio. His movement attracted all of her men to draw their weapons on him. Everybody cowered away from them.

"Let's just talk about this" Rebecca Mader, the CEO of Wachovia Banking waving her hands to calm everything down.

"Shut up" shouted Dr. Allister. "Don't interrupt me again, any of you, or you'll regret it. Not until I have said what I have to say. Nobody's going to save you. We have already disconnected all lines and dispatched all of your security. Now, answer me. Why do you want to kill this world that has been given to us?"

"If you're one of those damn eco-terrorist sons of bitches" William Buchannan warned.

"No" Victor Naughton cut in, "we're so much more than that. We're IVY."

"Who" asked Frank Pearson.

"Its what we call ourselves" Allister said. "We're the ones who bombed the Downing Tower. And we made it better. All that you did was dig into the earth and suck its nutrient and its blood! You have caused war, death and terror all over the world. Entire countries are dying because of you! Not anymore! You will pay for your murderous ways!"

"Us" Parker asked. "How many people died in that bombing of Downing Tower, do you think?!"

Heather Allister smiled and rolled up her sleeves to reveal a specialized version of the Alpha Vector that was bonded to her skin and hardwired directly into her nervous system. Its many wires were punctured into her skin all over her body and she could send out the Divinity Gene at any moment. A miniature version of the Alpha Vector was hardwired into her heart. This was created by Dr. Ramona Stowalters, something not even Lucius Fox knew about.

"Far more than you" she said. "By the way, I hope you enjoyed your water. I had my people plant some very special plant cells, courtesy of Wayne Botanicals. I know how much you _love_ Mother Nature. Now you can be even closer to her."

After that, they all heard a low, ominous ringing noise in their ears that steadily rose in volume until they couldn't hear anything else. Then, they all felt very similar immense pressure in the pit of their stomachs that rose up to their chests, arms, fingers and eventually heads. Those that were lucky died from the growing plants inside them puncturing their brains. Some had their eyes popped open as vines and leaves wrapped around their heads. Dr. Greg Parker was screaming when a bloody vine expanded out of both of his ears and tore his head off of his body. Allister and the others left the room which was filled with cries of agony and screams until it became the sounds of thick vines reaching to devour the entire room and eventually all of the SunKing Corporation building.

"Just what is Dr. Allister capable of now that she has the Alpha Vector" Bruce asked Stowalters.

"Do you want a smoke" Stowalters asked Bruce.

"No" Bruce declined, shaking his head.

Stowalters exhaled and told him, "The Alpha Vector wasn't exactly complete so I couldn't balance it."

"What do you mean 'balance it'?"

"I couldn't… get its effects to a stable level. It works _too _damn good, Mr. Wayne. I just wanted to cure disease with the damn thing. With the Alpha Vector the way it is now, she could change the _world_ itself. Mr. Wayne… there are no limits to what she can do with it."

There were no limits to what Dr. Heather Allister and IVY could do with the Alpha Vector, as ten minutes after their assault and murder of the Board of the SunKing Corporation, the entire building was torn in two and in its place was a gradually growing grove of vines that seemed to reach towards the sky.

It was eight PM. Alfred had driven to Bruce Wayne's safe house in a container near the docks. Using his key, he unlocked it and made his way inside.

He found Bruce Wayne dressed as Batman, only he wasn't wearing the mask, hard at work on his massive computer that held about twenty five screens and expanded across the entire wall. Of the screens was every news channel running in Gotham, a police scanner and a hacked emergency hotline, along with audio and video feeds from criminal contacts all around the city. Bruce was currently digging up background information on Heather Allister and Victor Naughton.

Alfred approached him. Without looking and still typing, Bruce said, "Heather Elizabeth Allister and Victor Emmit Naughton. She graduated summa cum laude from Brown University with a major in Genetic Biology. He graduated magna cum laude from Berkeley in New York with a major in Philosophy. Considering they're terrorists with a God complex, they deserve each other. I hate how they worked for my company. I employed terrorists, right under my nose."

"You can't blame yourself for this, sir" Alfred told him. "Who could have known? Nobody could've seen this coming. Not even Lucius Fox."

"I should have" Bruce told him. "Thousands of people died yesterday and close to that amount died today over at SunKing. I have their addresses. I'm going to pay them a visit tonight, and I will have to try _very _hard to not live up to my reputation."

"Well" Alfred said simply and dropped the bag he had slung over his shoulder to the floor, "that's all fine and dandy but how are you going to do that without your thieving gear?"

Bruce looked back at him and told him, "No, it looks like the old bat-suit will have to go on the rack for tonight. Thanks, Alfred, you can leave that there."

What Lucius had designed for Bruce Wayne wasn't just thermal equipment, but an entirely new suit. It held Batman' basic look: a Batman-designed mask, stealth armor and a cape. That was where the similarities ended. There were no detracting spikes on his arms, or even any spikes at all, and the suit wasn't even night black. There was also even less protection to allow for even more mobility than the last suit. It was a burnt rose-red color that seemed to blend in even more into the night even though it seemed it shouldn't. To add to this, Batman's vision could be switched between normal, night and thermal vision to allow better hiding in darkness and the shadows. He had sacrificed even more defense for mobility and stealth. He realized sourly with each improvement to his armor, just how much of the League of Shadows' training really had on him. It was far more than his physical abilities in combat.

He first visited Victor Naughton's home. Picking the back door lock was easy enough. Creeping through the house without making a sound, he made it to Victor's living room. It was a one-story home in a nice neighborhood. He didn't seem to worry about robbers, which is why he didn't have a more advanced security system, or one at all. Using night vision, he carefully checked every room, including the kitchen, the bedroom, the bathroom, the office and the basement. Naughton wasn't a particularly neat man. His bedroom was very messy for one. Clothes and trash were strewn all around the room, almost hopelessly. Same with the office, as computer paper and wadded up paper was rolled up and thrown all about. There was a table and it was full of paper and books, not organized at all. He looked through some of these things, only there was nothing important. It was all philosophy and genetic research. There was one wad of paper that caught his eye. It was a diary entry dated November 7th 2009.

_I met Dr. Ramona Stowalters today. She is a pretty one. So full of brilliance. So full of purpose. So full of well, SOMETHING! Yet, there's something missing from her. I can see it. She seems sad sometimes. I think she needs to get laid, but Heather thinks its because she knows that her research is going nowhere. She wants to take Stowalter's place. She says that the Alpha Vector is a waste of time and impractical. She seems to hate Stowalters. I'm indifferent to her, really, though I must admit that she is an interesting subject. I would like to watch a little more closely. She is certainly more interesting than this ridiculous Alpha Vector she has us study. To think that Wayne Enterprises would fund this crap. My mind could be put to much better uses than this. Oh God, now I'm starting to sound like her. I think I might be in love with her._

After throwing the paper away again, he searched the drawers, finding a book on theology, the Odyssey and the Bible. _This is a strange book collection_, he thought. There was something significant about this and he already guessed what it must be. For some reason, Naughton believed that whatever he was doing was benefiting to someone. How he could get that idea, he didn't know. He looked in the basement and found nothing but scattered cardboard, a bookcase, and a tiny refrigerator/freezer. He looked inside the refrigerator to find it was empty. He looked into the freezer to find what he had been looking for. It had about ten labeled test tubes with variable numbers with a jelly-like liquid inside.

Back at his safe house, Bruce Wayne studied the test tubes he had found in Naughton's freezer under a microscope. They were plant cells, he determined as he found they had a cell wall. What plant they were, he had no idea. He only knew they were they belonged to a plant. On the way back to his hideout on the Bat-pod, he had sliced off a piece of the Downing Tree, as it was now being called, with a dagger. He now pulled that out now, which was a vine and set it on the table. Using protective equipment, he burned the vine with some hydrochloric acid. He then put the dissolved the sample ot the tree under the microscope and studied. They were identical. In fact, they were the _same_ species. Before he could ponder it, his computer bleeped behind him as one of the networks doubled as a phone. He went to it, taking his gloves off and distilling his hands, before pressing the Enter button, answering the call which the screen referred to as GORDON.

"Batman" Gordon said, "I got it. I know where the tape is, if you're still interested. The same place where we met last night. I'll wait for an hour."

Batman wanted to see the tape. Naughton wasn't at home and it didn't look like he had been home for days. He had the feeling visiting Allister's home would yield similar results. He would still visit it tonight but after he had retrieved the tape that would reveal their intentions. He met Gordon on the same rooftop across the street from Ballard Hall.

Gordon was smoking a cigarette.

"I didn't know you smoked" Batman noted.

Gordon jumped and drew his gun at the sound of his voice. "Where are you" he demanded.

Batman stepped out from the shadows and got almost face to face with Gordon until he holstered his gun.

"Damn" Gordon noted, "you're getting too good at this. I couldn't _see _you and you were right in front of my face!"

"The tape" Batman said, "where is it?"

"Are you fine with committing a minor crime?"

"I'm fine with committing anything short of murder."

Batman would have to break into the 57th Precinct Gotham City Police Station. He would have to break the evidence room. Specifically, he would have to break into locker 557, where he could find the tape. He might have to commit a few acts of assault on the way, but he made peace with that. He had to assault cops before to do the right thing. He had convinced himself this was the right thing and the only way. Only this time, it was a little harder.

Batman propelled to the top of the police station, using a powerful, prehensile grappling wire that Lucius had recently developed for him. It was the same material he had used to snare Gino Malroni and his goons. He shot it on the rooftop and it caught underneath the ledge. Using it, he lunged himself up halfway up the wall and pulled himself the rest of the way. After putting it away, he jumped down to a third story window, noting that it was already open.

He made his way, down to the evidence locker, finding unconscious cops in various rooms. _Just like last night_, he thought to himself. _Only more people this time. Why would she be here? I don't care, I'll deal with her later. This takes precedence over her._

He made his way to the evidence room to find the door strewn open. The light was off. Turning his night vision with a small button on the inside of his left bat ear, he ventured inside to find that the room was clear. He simply followed the locker numbers until he came to 557. Afterwards, he took a pressure gun from his belt and put it to the lock and pressed the release valve. It knocked it off, obliterating the locker and opened it. Just as he was about to reach for the envelope inside, he felt cold steel on the back of his neck."

"You are just trying _so _hard to be a criminal , aren't you" Catwoman snickered at him, holding her Glock to the back of his neck.

"I'm already starting to get tired of you" Batman hissed at her.

"Aaaah" she pouted, "because I am really starting to warm up to _you_. Two times in two nights. A coincidence? I think not."

"You're right. It's not a coincidence. You're a criminal and I'm the one who puts you away."

"You really should stop with that voice. It's not as sexy as the rest of you. Wait, there's something different about you. Did you get a new costume?"

Having enough, Batman spun out of the way of her gun and slid the gun from her hand before she punched him in the throat. He stumbled backwards, choking, away from the locker. She followed him, kicking him twice in the gut, once in the chest and flipped backwards with her hands, uppercutting him with her heels in the process and driving him up into the air. He fell to the ground, choking. She grabbed the enveloped tape from the locker, walked to him and stomped on his chest, forcing a grunt from him. She grind her heel into his chest, back and forth.

"Batman" she said with suave seduction, playing with the word, "resolving to thievery? I would have thought it was beneath you. Beg for it, and I might give it back."

He tried to grab her ankle, only she pressed down with her heel again, causing him to grunt in more pain. "Uh uh uh" she warned, "there are rules to this little game. You have to _beg._"

Batman realized that his spikes would have come in handy in this situation. Instead, what he did was extend his grappling wire, which was lined against his inner arms and spun around his back for over a hundred feet, though it was lightweight and very transportable, hidden in his cape. The wire wrapped along her ankle and with a twitch of his wrist, she fell off of him and landed next time. He quickly spun it around her wrists in quick motion, got up and wrapped it around her neck, choking her. He then dragged her backwards, forcing her to run with him as he slammed her against the locker. He then kept her against the row of lockers by pulling on the wire strung around her neck, choking her again. Keeping it loose, he ran around the row of lockers eight times in fifteen seconds, using the wire to constrict her body to the row of lockers in ten binds. He then tied it off at the end of the row and came back to look at her. She was in pain, as the wire was infinitely strong and it was very tight against her body. She could seriously hurt herself trying to get out. She was uncomfortable already. He watched her as she winced with her head turned away from him. She still held his tape, still in its package. He snatched it from her. That was when she finally looked at him. The pain in her eyes was gone now, now there was only pure anger and hate. She looked like a modified cruxificition.

"I'm going to kill you for this" she told him, "you know that, right? I am going to claw your heart right out of your chest and all you'll be able to do is watch me do it."

"Maybe when you get out of prison" Batman told her, before he walked out of the door, holding his envelope. He walked back upstairs and prepared to climb back out of the window, before he heard crashing from downstairs. _Damn_, he thought. _she did get out. I'm going to have to handle this. Oh well, I can beat her. I know how to handle her now._

He readied himself in his traditional Karate defense, listening to the loud rumblings getting louder and louder as she was running upstairs to get to him. She finally kicked open the door. She crept into the room. Her claws were extended and there were several slashes across her body, where her flesh was exposed and bleeding. Her lips were pursed with anger and her eyes were filled with murderous rage. She had cut the wire with her claws, only she had been forced to struggle a lot and had deeply cut herself.

"I decided to keep my promise tonight" she told him, before running full speed at him.

Commissioner Gordon was smoking another cigarette, only this time outside of the 57th Precinct Gotham Police Station. Batman wasn't intending for him to be there. That was because Gordon wasn't following the plan and there was a reason for that. There was also a reason why he had picked up smoking for the first time in twelve years. He was parked across the street in the backseat of Agent Ronnie Flanagan's car, with Agent Renee Montoya in the passenger seat.

"Oh, that's okay" Montoya stated sarcastically, "yeah, sure you can smoke in here! Go _right _ahead!"

"Montoya, Montoya" Flanagan looked at her and soothed, "Leave it alone. It's understandable. Betrayal is a very delicate subject."

Gordon silently exhaled and puffed on the cancer-stick again. He just looked out of the window towards the police station. Without warning, a window on the third floor crashed and Batman, along with another dark figure on top of him, fell out to the ground below.

"Who is that, with Batman" Gordon asked.

"Oh, that's just _our _girl" Montoya said, "She's our anti-Batman, you can say."

Batman flung Catwoman off of him to the side and got up. She got up as well.

"What exactly are you trying to steal, anyway" she asked.

"I'm not about to tell you" he yelled at her.

"That's okay" she said, coming towards her, "I'll just cut it out of you."

She threw a kick and when he went to parry it, she pulled it back and tried to slash him in the face. He punched her arm away and threw his own punch, only she ducked and stepped away from him. She tried to kick him three times, only he dodged all three. She tried to send a left spin kick, only he catches her leg and kicks her other leg out from under her and slams her on the ground. Bringing her legs up to her legs and uses the leverage to push him off of her. She then hops to her feet and back kicks him in the face. He staggers backwards and she follows him and claws at him, slashing diagonally across his left cheek. She tries to uppercut him with the other claw, before he dodges, punches her in the ribs, then the gut. She grunts and bends downwards with the blows, he then grabs her arms and throws him over him, sending her rolling.

Gordon watched all of this with wide eyes.

"Commissioner" Flanagan called to him from the front seat, "just when are you going to call for some backup?"

Gordon shook his head to snap back out of blankness and pulled out his cell phone. He dialed Major Robertson's number.

"Major" he said when Robertson answered, "get some squads from the 30th and 1st Precinct to 57th Precinct Police Station. I have the Batman here and he isn't going anywhere."

Catwoman stood up on wobbly legs, as Batman jumped and back kicked her in the chest, knocking her down again. She rolled away from him before he stomped at her head. She then rolls beneath him and kicks his legs in two opposite directions, causing him to fall to his knees. She takes the opportunity to kick him in the face. He simply stands up and grabs her by the wrists before she can slash his face again. She struggles against him, but all she can manage to do scratch and cut his hands and wrists. He ignores this, holding her, even lifting her in the air by her wrists before she struggles and forces herself back to the ground. He squeezes her wrists, trying to crush them. She, in turn, is slashing at his wrists, attempting to cut into his hands, even cut them off if she can.

They barely notice the cop cars that speed down the street and surround them.


	6. Chapter 6

"Did I ever tell you that your new suit looks ridiculous" taunted Catwoman as she rose to her feet.

Ignoring her words, he heard police sirens in the distance. This wasn't good. Catwoman was already back on her feet encircling him, waiting for her chance to strike at him with her razor-sharp claws like curved daggers. For a second, he seemed distracted by the approaching police cars. That second was enough to incur her wrath. She lunged at him and slashed his face in an upwards angle, trying to gouge out his eyes. His left eye was saved by his mask, which produced an electric shock of one thousand volts, enough to make Catwoman jump back and yell in pain. He took the oppurtunity to punch her In the face and wrap his arms around her slim body, using his own muscular body to tackle her to the ground. He repeatedly punched her in the face in anger. She could have gashed the rest of his body all she wanted. But his _face_? How would he explain that to any of his associates in his public life? He was shocked and angry and the only reason he stopped hitting Catwoman was because the police were closing in on him. A police car nearly hit them but swerved away at the last second, followed by three others. He picked up the tape from the ground and ran, down the street into the darkness of the night. A police car was in direct chase behind Batman and was closing in rapidly. He considered himself in peak physical condition but he also didn't know for how long he would be able to outrun a car. He had to think incredibly fast. He then remembered that Lucius had told him that his suit was utterly invisible in pitch black darkness. The only reason they had been able to see him was their headlights. He continued to run and simply jumped and rolled into an alley. The police car suddenly stopped when they lost sight of him.

Officer James Huntigan looked over at his partner, Clint Pembrook. "Well" he yelled, "Go get him! We get this guy, we'll be swimming in bonuses and promotion points!"

"Damn it" was Pembrooks' response as he got out of the car, firearm drawn. He wasn't alone, however as his partner quickly got on the radio.

"We got the bastard cornered" Huntington said into the dispatch. "We're just down the street, he jumped down some alley. Get your asses over here now!" Afterwards, Huntington followed his partner down the alley with his own firearm drawn. They warily entered the alley with flashlights drawn in there other hands, crossing the arm carrying their guns at their wrists, the way they were trained. They passed a dumpster, which they opened. They jumped as rat lunged past them to get away from the light. They continued, looking at every little corner. The alley, itself was a dead end. It was small, narrow and short and not really much of a hiding place. All it had was a dumpster. They sighed as Batman was nowhere to be found and their backup arrived.

"Great" Huntigan sighed with grief, "How are we going to explain to the Commissioner that we had Batman, then we suddenly lost him!"

Batman was long gone by the time they searched the alley. He was running along the rooftops. It was downtown, so the buildings were all rather closed together. He ran as fast as he could, seeing as the place where he had hidden the Batpod wasn't exactly safe right now. Every building that was too far to jump to, he used his powerful grappling wire to get to it. One time, the next building was really far away so when he shot the wire out to its roof and jumped he only made it to apartment builiding fourth story railing. He collided with metal, striking his chest and ribs against its side, knocking the breath from his diaphragm. The loud noise attracted a little girl to look outside her window.

"Batman" she murmured into the night, upon seeing him look up at her with a pained look in his eyes. He wheezed, attempting to recapture his breath. The girl's mother came for her, hearing the loud clanging outside their window as well.

"Stacy" her mother called out to her in her native Irish accent. "Get away from that window right now!" Hearing this, Batman quickly kicked off the railing, propelling himself towards the roof with great velocity. Stacy's mother didn't see it, but Stacy did. She grabbed her daughter by the shoulders and hugged her, turning her away from the window. She stroked Stacy's long, blonde hair as she looked out the window, seeing nothing, but the empty and uncharacteristically quiet night. She pulled Stacy tighter to her, eyes closed.

"Mother" Stacy called out, "We're going to be _okay_. Batman is here."

"Oh, Stacy" she cried, believing her daughter meant that Batman being in Gotham was what she meant, "Come on, darling, let's go to bed!" She pulled Stacy away lovingly by the hand. Stacy went willingly but couldn't take her eyes off the window.

Batman took a minute to rest on the roof and catch his breath. He clutched at his midsection which felt caved in. He was bleeding from the left side of his face and the blood was smearing all over his face. He would have to move again, quickly. He was still the most wanted man in Gotham and he was sure they would send helicopters for him soon. Why had Catwoman been at the police station? He would worry about this later, but it was stiil a question he wanted answered.

Commissioner Gordon wasn't happy with the situation. Both Batman and the Ballard Hall Thief were nowhere to be found. They were back in front of the police station, where officers were looking to check the station.

"We had him, Commissioner" Huntigan assured Gordon, outside. "We would have gotten him if back up had arrived sooner. He just disappeared."

"Don't talk like you did something _special_" Gordon tiraded against him. "What do you want? A medal? For what? For _almost_ catching Batman?!"

Huntigan was taken aback. "I-I'm sorry, Commissioner…"

"Let's get one thing straight" Gordon continued, "You were no closer to catching Batman than I was as a Detective nor when my personal unit and I attempted to, a month ago." He then closed the distance on the helpless officer to spout his last insult, for effect. "And you're not even half the cop any of _them _are."

With that, Deputy Commissioner Allan Spokes, who was speaking to reporter Vicki Vale from Channel 13 news, called out, "Commissioner!" Sensing he had gone too far, he walked off to tell the reporters no comment on tonight's events.

Agents Flanagan and Montoya took a left down Wanda Avenue. Montoya made a pitch-perfect cat's meow that rang through the deserted street. Five seconds later, someone darted towards the car in the night and got into the backseat of the car. Satisfied, they pulled away.

"He really did a number on me tonight" Catwoman admitted to them, tearing away her stealth suit, with grunts and moans, before taking off her mask. "I can barely walk right now. If I didn't have Holly, I would say take me to a hospital. I mean, I'm _bleeding!_"

"Oh, stop being so dramatic" Montoya said, without looking at her. "You lived. Batman's a known killer, remember?"

Catwoman reached into her stealth suit and removed a cigarette and lighter. "Uhh" she said, "no, he's not."

"What" Flanagan asked, in surprise, as he drove.

"I've dealt with enough killers to know one when I fight one" she explained, lighting and smoking a cigarette. "He's angry, incredibly skilled, but not a killer. He had a chance to kill me tonight but he didn't. Even if that oppurtunity hadn't come up, though, I would have still known. I can see through him."

"Did I tell you you could smoke in my car" Flanagan asked.

"He may have let that lunatic clown live, but what about Dent" Montoya asked.

Catwoman shrugged. "Maybe it was on accident" she suggested, smoking some more.

"Those cops too" Montoya asked, "I don't believe it. I refuse to."

"Don't forget about the thugs" Catwoman added.

"I don't care about gutter trash" Montoya answered.

Catwoman blew some smoke from her nostrils and pursed her lips. "Don't forget where you found me" she said.

"Don't _remind _me" Montoya said with a chuckle and then with a slight turn towards her, she said, "Don't _you_ forget you could always go back." Catwoman gave her a look of murderous rage. She was two seconds from cutting out her throat.

"Now, now ladies" Flanagan soothed, "We aren't supposed to fight each _other_. Now, Batman isn't our only issue. Catwoman, what's your status on your boss?"

"Victoria" Catwoman asked, "So dirty. She won't be hard at all to take down. She deals coke to all of her models and she has her money invested in something big. I don't know what it is, yet. It won't be too hard to find out. I suggest you guys hold off until I can get to her books."

"That's good to hear" Flangan commented.

Catwoman exhaled more smoke and said, "But, seriously, why are you worried about her? Batman isn't Gotham's biggest problem, either. Gotham is starting to look like it did when the dinosaurs were around." To emphasize her point, they passed a crumbled structure of what used to be City Hall, which was now titan of a tree which indeed remind them of something out of Jurassic Park.

"See" Catwoman asked.

"That is a strange problem" Flanagan observed. "Expect to hear about the president calling a Stat e of Emergency first thing tomorrow. Also, expect the National Guard to _kindly_ suggest that the citizens of Gotham evacuate the city. They are sending in experts to reverse what's being done with Gotham's newfound vegetation and teams to find the terrorists responsible."

"Will our current operation be affected in any way" wondered Catwoman.

Looking upwards at the mirror, to see her face, Flanagan said with a smile, "Not in the slightest bit."

Catwoman laughed gleefully at the sound of that and purred, then roared playfully before taking another inhale of her cigarette.

Bruce Wayne was back in his condo, where Alfred was sterilizing his facial gash with alcohol, peroxide and cotton pads. Bruce hissed from the burning pain.

"I think I'm going to have to take off days for this one, Alfred" he said.

"Oh, _now_ you want to take off days" Alfred replied with a smile, never stopping. He finished cleaning his wound and reached for the needle and thread from his surgical tray. "I think you should stop tangling with this Catwoman, sir. _That's _what you should do."

"I couldn't help it, Alfred" he complained. "She was just _there_!" He hissed again when Alfred pushed his wound together and poked the threaded needle into his flesh.

"You really have a handle on this, Alfred" Bruce asked through clenched teeth.

Working at quick speed, but stopping look at Bruce in disbelief, "Sir, let me give you some advice. I spent twelve years in the British Special Forces as a damn medic. I've dealt with punctured skulls, missing limbs, fratcured spines, broken bones, bullet wounds, knife wounds, and one time I helped a man with chronic diarrhea. Don't ask me about that one. Never insult a man who is giving you medical attention, as barbaric as it might be." With that, Alfred went back to work, stitching Bruce Wayne's face back together.

"_Oooookaaaaaaay_" murmered Bruce, "No more questions."

"No more talking at all, sir" Alfred said, without looking up. "Please."

Bruce didn't talk again until Alfred was finished.

Selina Kyle opened the door to her condo, using her key and upon hearing the welcome sounds of her nine cats, smiled as she plopped down on her couch. She hissed and moaned from the sudden movement, as her entire body hurt from the night's events. The cats gathered around her and happily rubbed as many of them as she could get her hands on, welcoming their soothing purrs.

Then, the lights suddenly turned on. Selina looked up from the couch and saw Holly Robinson, her good friend, standing in the kitchen, not looking very happy at all. Holly Robinson was her good friend and partner. She was very intelligent and specialized in dealing with the body. She wasn't exactly a medic but she knew enough about the human anatomy to be just as if not more effective as one. She wore glasses which did little to hide a naturally pretty face. She had a slender frame that hid a strong core and strength that many in her same field lacked. She was extremely particular in everything she liked, including food and friends, so Selina Kyle was in a very small club of people who could call her a friend. She had short, red, spiky hair that didn't extend past mid-neck. She wore a green, Victoria's Secret robe and green, bunny house slippers.

"You really should have called first, you know" Holly said, pushing her glasses towards the bridge of her nose. "You almost ended up with four bullets in your head, just now."

"Holly" Selina said, "I need your help. I'm in pain. Batman really gave it to me tonight."

Holly turned her head at Selina. "I thought that was what you _wanted_?"

"Not like that, you _freak_" Selina said, in disgust. "Damn it, Holly! I really _am _in pain! Now that I'm lying here, I can't get up! Just come look at me! Help me!"

Holly sighed and rolled her eyes. "You _really_ are a baby" she moaned. "Okay, I'll see what's wrong with you." She uncrossed her arms and walked into the living room, towards the couch. "What the hell's wrong with you" she wondered, "you're still wearing your stealth suit!"

Bruce's face was stitched now, and he was in the living room of his condo, watching the news. He was opening the envelope, which contained the terrorist's demands. He found a black cassette case and pried it open. He expected to find a black tape, only to have a pile of tiny diamonds, and a larger diamond, almost as big as his fist tumble out at his feet. He was confused, and reached down for the large diamond, turning it over in his palm. It was clean, diamond-cut to perfection. _Everything that happened tonight_, he thought. _What I went through, it was for this?_ He suddenly realized one of two things could have happened: Either Catwoman had switched the diamonds with the tape, which was very unlikely as he had been fighting her the entire time and the only time he had left her alone, he had the package. The other option was that Gordon had betrayed him and there was never any tape to begin with. Now Batman was a killer _and_ a thief.

"And in our next story" said Vicki Vale on the TV, "Batman:Murderer, Vigilante, Jewel thief?"

Bruce didn't even want to hear anymore. He grew so angry that he flung the diamond into his glass table, shattering the glass. He then picked up the glass table, lifting it above his head and throwing its frame at his TV on the wall. The TV was knocked off the wall and broke on the floor, clattering next to his table frame. The noise brought Alfred to the living room.

"What the bloody hell" Alfred, shouted before seeing what had happened. He then looked at Bruce, who was half-turned to him. "Master Bruce" Alfred said, lowly, "your face…"

Bruce hadn't noticed the small stream of blood that was running down the left side of his face. He touched it and saw blood on his fingers. Three of his stitches had come undone and blood now oozed from the wound.

"Don't worry about me, Alfred…" he said, absently.

"But, sir" Alfred began, before Bruce cut him off.

"Don't worry about the mess, either" Bruce said, "I'll clean it. I just need to lie down for a little while. It's been a very long night." Bruce walked past Alfred to his bedroom.

_Bruce Wayne clean a mess_, Alfred thought of the words, _Not very likely_.

The next day, at nine in the morning, a press conference was held. Mayor Garcia had called it. The attendance included Commissioner Gordon and the president himself, Barack Obama.

"As you know" Garcia said, "this city has had to deal with more than any other city has had to deal with, lately. I do not even need to mention some of these things now. For a week, now, we have been plagued by terrorism in its most bizarre and devastating form! Just turn your eyes behind me!"

Garcia had chosen, at the protest of his advisors, to give his speech in front of the vine and greenery-infested city hall, with a giant tree growing out of its devastated roof. The people who attended could not pretend this was not happening and would face the truth, unlike what they did when the Joker came through town.

Alfred did not think this was a particularly good idea, yet as a rare moment, he didn't tell Bruce Wayne. Bruce was determined this morning to get to the bottom of everything, mainly the terrorist attacks. He had reason to believe that Dr. Heather Allister, a researcher on Project GENESIS, is connected to all of this, if not directly then some other way. As Alfred waited by the car below, Bruce had gone to her apartment door and knocked. After a minute and knocking at her door, the door unlocked and pulled half-open. Part of Allister's rat-like face appeared in the doorway.

"Yes" she said, cautiously, like an animal afraid to get hurt.

Bruce Wayne removed his sunglasses and said, "Dr. Heather Allister. I'm Bruce Wayne. I believe we've met. I would like to ask you a couple of questions if you wouldn't mind. Can I come in?"

She clicked her tounge, seeming to think it over for a second, before stepping from the doorway and opening it. "Yeah, sure. Why not? I mean, really? Bruce Wayne at my place? I never would have thought…". He walked past her into her apartment.

"You're dressed real snazzy today" she said, checking out his suit. "Uh, Mr. Wayne, what happened to your face?"

She closed the door, as he looked around her living room with his hands in his pockets. "Don't worry about my face" he said simply.

"_Ooookaaaay_" she replied, taken aback.

"As of now, Gotham is in a state of emergency" explained Mayor Garcia. "The National Guard has deployed here and we will evacuate as many people as we can _today_! Rest assured that the terrorist situation is being handled! I assure you, by two days' end, these culprits will be apprehended to answer to their crimes against you or _worse_!" This incited roaring applause from the gathered crowd and media. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama were among those applauding.

"I couldn't have said it better myself" the president told his wife, over the crowd.

"I wondered if I should really let you in" Allister told him as she laid a glass of water on the glass banister in front of him. "There you go, you must be thirsty. Anyway, then I thought, 'hell, you're my boss. Hell, you're _everybody's_ boss! If you tracked me down, you must have had something important about my job! Or GENESIS!" She was slightly pretty with shoulder-length blonde hair. She was wearing a long-sleeved white shirt and blue jeans, along with flip-flops. She also wore silver studs in her ears in the form of a cross. "As you can tell" she explained. "I'm off today. I'm not much use to Wayne Enterprises if Project GENESIS is shut down, according to Lucius Fox."

"That's what he said" Bruce asked, rubbing his hands together.

"More or less" she said, leaning back on her loveseat. "Why don't you drink some of that water" she asked, nodding in the direction of his glass. "You don't look well, ."

Bruce looked at it. Ever since Dr. Crane and the League of Shadows had poisoned the city's water supply, Bruce had been wary of tap water. Instead he had been more inclined to drink bottled water. "Um" he said, "Do you have bottled water, like Aquafina?"

She smiled as she rose to her feet. "As a matter of fact" she said with glee. "I do. Fiji Water?"

Bruce waved it off and said, "That's fine."

With that, Heather Allister went to her kitchen to fetch her boss a bottle of Fiji Water. Unbeknownst to Bruce, she also pulled out a medicine dropper contained a solution which in turned, contained the cells of a long-thought extinct vine tree. She quietly opened the cap of his water on the counter.

"So, are you religious" Bruce asked, from the living room.

"What, you mean my earrings" Allister asked, dropping the solution carefully into the water bottle. "Oh God, no. I don't buy into the whole faith bullshit. But, I do believe in God. I believe mankind used to be better than what we are now. We used to be pure, but were corrupted. Now, God has turned a blind eye to us. Sometimes, I wonder if _anybody _goes to Heaven."

She put the cap back on Bruce's water bottle and pocketed the empty medicine dropper, then turned to take the water to Bruce.

"The crosses" she said, as she walked over and sat the Fiji water in front of him, "I wear them because they remind me that there's a heaven at all."

Mayor Garcia took a break in his speech to take a sip of water from his water bottle that was on his podium. He swallowed and continued, "Furthermore…" He was interrupted by an ominous ringing in his ears that was maddenly loud. It was inside his brain and blood poured from his ears. He grunted as a one of his deputies grabbed him. Suddenly, an intense pain surged through his gut and he doubled over, grunting in pain. A crowd of deputies and police crowded the mayor and guided him away from the stage and media circus that was quickly forming. President Obama realized that as he was led away by secret servicemen that a sense of euphoria washed over him and he felt better than he has ever felt in his life. He wasn't registering much of anything anymore.

"Dr. Allister" Bruce said, "Dr. Stowalters has implicated _you_ in the attack on her and her lab."

"What" Allister exclaimed. "Are you serious!? I performed just as much if not more research than her! I would be destroying my own work!"

"Dr. Stowalters said that all of the documents and Alpha Vector, along with all of its prototypes was stolen."

"Mr. Wayne, I am very glad that Dr. Stowalters survived her ordeal, but she is delusional. I was _here_, celebrating our successful experiments with my boyfriend. I mean, come on, no police have been around. Dr. Stowalters apparently doesn't think her claims are valid enough to talk to a cop."

"Dr. Victor Naughton, isn't it? Your boyfriend, I mean."

Dr. Heather Allister crossed her arms and gave Bruce a certain look. He was getting to her."I'm not sure I like this questioning. What exactly are you getting at?"

"I'm just trying to get to the bottom of this" he offered.

"Since _when _did you care, anyway" she wondered. "Oh, I see. When there was potential for your pockets to fatten, there really wasn't any need for your attention. Now, that something goes wrong, you're _concerned_. Don't you have a thousand other projects to pick up the slack?"

"Damn it, Heather" Bruce yelled. "Pay attention! Gotham is being torn apart! People are dying! This isn't like the others! What's the use of a machine that can heal any sickness or injury if its being used for evil!?"

She shrugged and stood. "I don't know what to tell you, Mr. Wayne. I wasn't there. I have no idea what you're talking about. I hear the city's being evacuated. I think I'm going to visit my sister in Bludhaven. You should think about leaving too."  
"No" Bruce said, "My father wouldn't have abandoned Gotham. I won't abandon it."

She nodded slowly at that. "I have to make a phone call. Excuse me for a moment."

He stood, not touching his water bottle. "I'll just be leaving. Sorry for wasting your time."

"Don't worry about it" she said. "Aren't you going to take the water?"

"Uh, no" he told her, looking warily at the Fiji Water and shaking his head. "I'll just pick something up."

With that, he went to the door and said, "Thanks anyway. Bye." He then left. Heather shook her head in disbelief, before taking the bottle of Fiji Water and placing it back in the refrigerator with the others. She then went to her bedroom to make her phone call on the house phone. Maybe she had pushed it a little too much with the water. Oh well, even if he suspected her. He wasn't a cop. She didn't worry about him. She only wanted to kill him because he was a profiteer and he annoyed her. Bruce Wayne was worried about her actions with the Alpha Vector, was he? Well, he would probably die of guilt if he found out he was an unwitting benefactor of her operations. Money, it was all he was good for. She called Carla Yang, a _willing_ benefactor of her operations.

"Yang, you wouldn't believe who stopped by my apartment, just now" Allister said.

"Who" Yang asked.

"Bruce Wayne. Why couldn't I just kill him the traditional way? He _knows_ about me."

"He suspects."

"No, woman, you're not listening to me. He knows. He didn't drink the water. He was asking suspicious questions. Who knew? Of all people, Bruce Wayne is the one to find out about me. I knew I should have just stabbed that bitch Stowalters."

"Heather, you know we are not killers."

"_We_. You haven't participated in any of our operations. In fact, now that my plans are underway, I really don't need you. Do I?

"Heather, slow down."

"You might want to evacuate with the rest of the city, Carla. I mean, like _right _now. Because if you don't, you're likely to find a bullet in your head or _worse_. The mayor should already be dead and you're next."

"Heather…"

Allister hung up after that and went to her window. She grabbed her two miniature globes she liked to roll in her hands, as they were her version of a stress ball. They calmed her down and allowed her to think. She watched from the window as Alfred, Bruce Wayne's butler and caretaker opened the door for him, allowing him to get in. She rolled the globes over each other with a slow, relaxing speed. It reminded her that everything was under control and in her hands.

"You smug, scar-faced bastard" she said aloud, referring to Bruce Wayne. "After my rivals are out of the way, its _your_ turn to die." Alfred drove away.

"The mayor's dead" Bruce Wayne told Ramona Stowalters, who was still confined to her hospital bed, "and Dr. Allister claims she had nothing to do with anything."

"Mr. Wayne, Bruce" Stowalters stammered, "She's _lying_!"

"Sure she is" Bruce said, evenly. "but what if she isn't. I mean, she had a point. Technically, that project and research was almost as much as her's as your's."

She shook her head violently, frustrated. "I can't take this" she growled. "Look, I know what I know! She hurt me! She gave me eight broken bones and fractures! Then, she stole my creation! Damn it, she's using it to kill people! Why would I lie!? Where am I right now?! Delusional?! I know what the hell I'm saying!"

"I believe you, Ramona" Bruce said, lowly. "It's just… why didn't you go to the cops?"

"GENESIS was a top secret project" she said. "Do we really need the police involved when we have _Batman?_"

He was surprised by what she said. "Batman" he said, "isn't he a wanted man?"

"Yes" she replied, "unrightfully so, I can imagine. He was likely framed for those murders. Batman never killed anybody before that night, and never again after that night. Do you really believe a man who would spare the life of hardened criminals and a murdering psychopath, would actually kill a district attorney and a cop?"

It was his night again. A large number of Gotham citizens had been evacuated today. They left on ferries, bridges and planes. The wind, along with its whispers and cries was much more noticeable now. He was Batman as he stood on the roof across from the police station, in the captain's office window, was Commissioner Gordon typing away at the computer. Gordon's office was out of use, as it was currently preoccupied by ancient vines reinvigorated. He wanted to get to the bottom of Gordon's possible betrayal and wanted to know the truth.

Seconds later, something crashed through Gordon's window. Gordon looked up from his desk to see a scar-faced Batman looking back at him, standing on top of his paperwork. He wearing his all-black costume again and he didn't look pleased. Batman heard cops coming for the door. Batman got down and pulled the desk toward the door, barging it closed.

"Batman" Gordon yelled out, just before Batman grabbed him by his collar and flung him from the chair across the room. The police were banging on the door, trying to push past it. Batman extracted some of his grappling wire from his wrist and wrapped it around the door knob and extended it, tying it off at the bolted down heater across the room from the door. Batman turned his attention back on Gordon, who was turned over and training a weapon on him. Batman quickly ran and kicked the firearm from his hand, sending it tumbling away. He then punched Gordon in the face and lifted him to his feet.

"There never was any tape" Batman yelled, "was there?!"

"Batman" Gordon pleaded, out of breath, "please!"

"Answer me" Batman shouted, "Damn you!"

"No" Gordon admitted, "there was never any tape!". At that, Batman flung him backwards into the filing cabinets behind Gordon, who banged the back of his head against the steel frame. Gordon slumped to the ground.

"Commissioner" a cop outside yelled, "what's going on?! Let us in!"

"Why did you betray me" Batman demanded to know. "Why did you betray justice! You know what I stand for! Yet, you lied to me and made me into an actual criminal! I will never forgive you!"

"They threatened my wife" Gordon shouted, trying to gather himself. "They threatened my daughter! They threatened my son! They threatened my career! The night outside Ballard Hall! Remember that night?! They saw us together!"

"Who" demanded Batman.

"Two agents" Gordon said, choking as he crawled to his knees, "Flanagan and Montoya. When I first met them, they introduced themselves as FBI. They had licenses, proper jurisdiction, everything. They're not FBI."

"Then, what the hell are they" Batman asked.

"I don't know" Gordon admitted. "Some kind of black-op, government-sponsored police unit or something like it. These guys go to extreme means. That Catwoman you keep facing, probably gave you that scar. She's one of them. You're one of their main targets, along with the terrorist cell and somebody else."

"And you sold me to them for your own well-being" Batman said. "The one cop in this city that I truly trust turns out to be just as selfish as the rest of them. Tell me why I'm not surprised."

"Go to hell, Batman" Gordon said, looking up now, "you don't know what its like…"

Batman became so enraged at those words. _He_ had lost two parents in a brutal killing long ago. _He_ deatl with rigourous hardship all over the world, punishing himself for someone else's sins. _He _sacrificed his mind and his body to the first ideal he could believe in, and destroyed it. _He _had sacrificed any possible attempt at a normal, satisfying life when he donned the cape and cowl. _He_ had been shot, stabbed, beaten and scarred in the name of this city that was falling apart as he was helpless to stop it. _He _had made a name for himself as the terror of the night and the streets, while a beacon of justice and light to the just. _He_ had sacrificed his newly gained legacy to save the legacy of someone who had truly fallen to darkness. Gordon hadn't lost anything, not _yet_. _He _didn't know what it was like.

With that, Batman threw a crunching straight into Gordon's lower jaw, cracking his head to the side and knocking him unconscious. Still steaming, Batman restrained himself to go to the window sill. He shot a blade from a slicer gun, manufactured by Lucius Fox, at the grappling wire, severing it. The police were able to push themselves past the desk, where they found Gordon, crumpled in the corner and an otherwise empty room.

Batman had a monster growing inside of him. He could feel it. He had to release it or purge it somehow, or it would destroy him and others close to him. He was at the construction site where Wayne Manor was being rebuilt. Alfred was right. It was looking just like he remembered it was. It also had a few new additions. He stood perched on a rare goblin statue from Italy. It supported his weight evenly. Lightning slashed across the sky. The wind picked up to a torrendous pace, causing his cape to flutter, wildly in the wind. Thunder roared in the night like a lion finding its mate for life. The rain was pouring down, like a monsoon. Batman didn't care. It put out the fire that brewing in his heart now. It drenched his stitches and he would need them redone, but he didn't care. He stood on the roof of his family's legacy, looking out into the night sky, wondering if maybe there was somebody somewhere else looking at the same sky from the other side that had things better off than him.


	7. Chapter 7

"**Baby" Garrin Anderson yelled at his wife to get her to move towards the car with a little more urgency, "Hurry up!" Jessica hurried to the car with their three-year old son, Paxton, in her arms. The Gotham Bridge had been advised as the best way to leave Gotham on the radio. They had packed everything they felt they needed and wanted to take with them, evident by the large bags of luggage in the back of the Volkswagon, as well as roped to the hood. **

**Jessica Anderson put their son in his babyseat in the back, strapping him in with his favorite G.I. Joe action figures, and got in the passenger seat. "I never thought something like this would happen" she said to him. **

**Garrin put the car in reverse, backing his car away from their beautiful suburbia home. He looked at her. They had been so happy before. How could something like this happen? Everything was so messed up now. "We should have never moved here" he admitted to her.**

"**Oh, Garrin" she said, "You could have never known! Nobody could've known!" **

"**Mommy" called Paxton, from the backseat. "Are we going to Grandma's house?"**

"**No, Paxton" said Jessica, turning in her seat to talk to him. "Grandma lives in Gotham too. We are **_**leaving**_** Gotham."**

"**Why, mommy" asked Paxton.**

"**Well, son" said Jessica.**

"**Jessica…" Garrin attempted to interrupt. It probably wasn't best if their son worried about something so potentially depressing. He pulled out onto the street and turned onto their street to leave.**

"**No" she said, "I think it's best if he understands." She turns fully to Paxton. "Baby? Gotham just isn't safe anymore. We can't stay here."**

"**Why not" asked Paxton, confused. **

"**Some people just aren't happy and content with seeing others live good lives while they're miserable" was all that his mother found she could say.**

**The ABC television station in Gotham wasn't in its busiest work hours. In fact, a little over half the staff were evacuated from the city. The city was quickly falling to chaos. Once proud structures and pillars of civilization, all of Gotham's buildings were nothing but contributions to Gotham quickly becoming a jungle. The city was damned and there were no more stories to be told. That is why after another day, Vicki Vale and the rest of the ABC staff would leave the city, never to return to the ruined utopia. **

**Vicki was quite pessimistic over the entire situation, which she expressed by lighting a cigarette right in her office, at her desk. **

"**Hey" Rick Shields, her lead producer yelled into her office door, "None of that, Vale!"**

"**Who's going to stop me, Rick" she yelled at him. "You?!" She inhaled it deeply when Rick walked away. She leaned back, trying to relax, even though her life as she knew it was gone. Her city is decaying and all she could do was smoke a cigarette which didn't help anybody, herself included. She then randomly looks over her own desk for the first time and sees a manila envelope with a very noticeable bulge in its center.**

**The Andersons had made it all the way across Gotham with little incident, as Gotham had already been evacuated over the past couple of days. Garrin was forced to brake to a complete halt at the start of the bridge. The entire bridge was covered with a multitude of vines that were a mile high. All the resolve was flushed from Garrin Anderson's spirit. There was no way through it or around it and this was supposedly the last way out of Gotham.**

**Every television set in Gotham that was still on or working played the same thing because it was the only programming still in function. It was of course an ABC news programming and a result of a certain little package that appeared on Vicki Vale's desk.**

**It was of course a tape that Vicki Vale and the rest of the staff were more than happy to play on the broadcasting channel. It was worth it, as it was they first public appearance of the very same people that was destroying Gotham City. **

**The broadcasting seemed to pick up from inside an abandoned warehouse, as the camera was fixated on some ancient hydration pump and rusted pipes. There was an echoing drip of water in the background. The audio would be both amplified and distorted by the setting's emptiness. After a couple of seconds, the camera fumbled with the camera and video skipped ahead so that Dr. Victor Naughton stood in front of the camera. He wore a body armor, black thermal suit and combat boots. He stood with his hands behind his back. **

"**Hello, Gotham" he said. "I am Dr. Victor Naughton. For ten years, I have contributed to some of the greatest Wayne Enterprises innovations. Did I receive any thanks or accolades for my contributions to science? No, but that my fellow citizens is not why I speak to you this wonderful morning. For tens of thousands of years, mankind has constantly disappointed, time and time again. Let's face it, we have never been civilized! Before Christ died for our sins, we had Sodom and Gomorra, stonings, cannibalism, and bestiality! After Christ, we had impalements, the witch hunts, martyrdom, the inquisition and well, bestiality! Gotham, today we are no better! For years, Gotham has been the most crime-ridden city in the entire United States! Everyday, we beat everybody else in murder, drug trafficking, and rape! True, these have declined thanks to a certain bat. However, IVY and I have destroyed the very foundation of this modern-day Gomorra and he has been unable to even find us, let alone stop us. That only strengthened our resolve, IVY's resolve, because it proved to us that God has approved of our plans. God is on our side. As a man of science, I have studied much of man's creations. The problem isn't mankind, Gotham. You see, man is God's most favored creature. No, the problem isn't with man, the problem is with man's corruption. Foundation. It is man's greatest sin. What gave man the right to create? I answer you, Gotham. It was Satan. With the ability to create, man created statues and idols, which led to murder and sinful lust. Man created its own laws, which led to more murder, cruelty and ultimately, more criminals. Man created churches, buildings, and skyscrapers which has led to nothing but misery and a **_**distraction**_** from what's life is really about. I'll tell you one thing, Gotham, it isn't how much money you make on a day to day basis and being so exhausted after a long day of work that you can't cherish time with your loved ones."**

**With that, Victor Naughton took a deep breath and composed himself. **

"**Gotham, I am **_**still**_** a man of science, not God. Yet, don't you remember Genesis, when God created man and woman before the original sin? Don't you remember how man wasn't permitted to have fruit from the tree of knowledge? Have you ever stopped to think how simple life must've been for young Adam and Eve? They couldn't even see, let alone create. As IVY, we just want to see what that was like. We are turning Gotham into the next Garden of Eden, where we will begin a new way of living. Follow us, and you will experience just how joyous life can really be! You have no choice anymore, anyway. If you haven't escaped Eden by now, then you are too late. We have blocked every possible way to escape this paradise in the making. So, all I have to say is sit back and enjoy it. Oh, and to all who oppose our wishes, be sure to remember that you are not above the same treatment that Jesus Christ himself received." With that, the broadcast ended and suddenly, those who stayed in Gotham knew who IVY was and what they wanted.**

**Bruce Wayne sat in front of his monitor at his CONUS hideout. He had just watched the IVY broadcast for himself. Alfred, as always, was by his side. Alfred watched uneasily as Bruce crossed his hands in front of his face, thinking. He thought better than to ask him what was on his mind recently. Bruce has been prone to angry outbursts and mood changes since his betrayal by Commissioner Gordon, his only trusted ally outside of Alfred and Lucius Fox. Alfred, always the bold one, asked anyway.**

"**What do you think, sir" he asked.**

**Bruce didn't answer for a long time and Alfred was about to give up and continue about his business, until Bruce finally did answer, "Two things. One, this Dr. Victor Naugton is not the leader of IVY."**

"**No" asked Alfred. "Then who is it? That Dr. Heather Allister you visited the other day?" **

**Bruce shook his head and said, "No, as much as they would like to be, those two do not get to call the shots at IVY. I also wonder if IVY's goal is even to create a second Eden."**

"**But everything they've done, sir" Alfred stammers, "the motive makes sense. What else could it be?"**

**Bruce shook his head again. "I don't know" he said, "The last part is only my thoughts and speculation, but I know for a fact that Allister and Naugton aren't the heads of IVY. Look at this. Of course, we can't use cell phones, anymore. Signals don't work." Bruce hands Alfred a faxed copy of the records for the funding of project GENESIS. On it were the purchase of various supercomputers, modules and processors, the vector components, among other things, including rare, thought-extinct plants. On the top were four bank accounts in particular. Alfred recognized one as Bruce Wayne's.**

"**Who else funded the project" asked Alfred. **

"**I traced the accounts back to their respective holders" said Bruce. "One of them was really tricky. It lead to a bunch of dummy accounts, but I eventually found out who they were. Christine Victoria, head of Eve's desire, a cosmetics giant like Chanel or Sionis Cosmetics; Richard Isley, head of Isley Botanicals, a company I own, strange enough… why would he fund a project like this; and Carla Yang, head of Y-tech, a Japanese-based robotics company. Yang was the tricky one. So, we have Isley, Victoria and Yang. The three of them funding IVY doesn't make sense. The only one who makes even a little sense is Isley but then again, where did he get the funding himself?**

"**Isley, Victoria and Yang" murmured Alfred in disbelief.**

"**Yeah" Bruce answered, "I know. Their names make up the name of the terrorist cell."**

**Jim Gordon sat in his office, expecting to be left alone. There was no traditional crime in the city anymore. All the looters had evacuated along with all of the sane, respectable citizens. It seemed that all that was left were cultist followers of the IVY eco-terrorists, who would run all over the city naked saved for cloaks and hold church in some of the buildings among the plants. They hold daily public burnings, where they cast any man-made possession into fires: iPods, phones, clothing, jewelry, basically everything else people seemed to cherish not too long ago. They were throwing it away now. Gordon would never have thought it possible. People were actually going for IVY's bullshit and he strangely felt like he had sold his soul to the devil and received no benefits from the deal.**

**There were relatively few on the police force now, since many had chosen to keep their families safe or they were simply watching their own backs. Whatever the reasoning was, Gordon had small resources compared to the usual circumstances. Now he sat behind his once-esteemed chair, contemplating a bottle of Scotch, rolling a rather large shot glass in his palm. He's been sober for five years. That used to be a problem, especially for Barbara and the kids, James Jr. and Barbara. It made him laugh now. How selfish did they really look, to name their children after themselves. He guessed it was to display how much they loved them, or to be sure something was left behind of them in case something terrible happened. He had sent Barbara to take the kids with her to New York, with her sister. She didn't want to at first, for his sake. God bless her heart, but he eventually convinced her and now they were safe. Just in time, it seems as all the passage ways to the leave the city, including passage ways to the ports, have been blocked off by IVY's damn prehistoric trees and vines, now as intimidating as skyscrapers. The spikes themselves, which covered most of the vines around the city now were larger than humans. He had sent patrols out during morning shift to recover information on possible escape routes. Nothing of use had returned yet. This was why Gordon contemplated his return to drinking. **

"**You're not thinking of touching that bottle and tipping its contents into that glass" stated his Deputy Commissioner, Sarah Essen from his doorway, "and in turn tipping the contents of that glass down your throat, are you? I would hate to admit it, but it would make me think less of you." **

**Gordon put the glass down and smiled. "Of course not, Deputy" he said. "Do you have anything to report?"**

**She walked in from the doorway and approached his desk, stopping seven feet from him. She was a no-nonsense and charming woman who was quickly proving to be a cop that Gordon could trust. Even as Gordon was the highest-ranking police official in the city, he still believed that real police work was done in the streets and on the field. He really didn't like associating with police officials or even high-ranking police officers such as majors and captains. Before the evacuations, Gordon had only met Essen twice and never paid any attention in her direction. Now, he was finding her to be his most trusted confidant. After all this was over, he'd have to remember to promote her to be assistant Commissioner. Right now, she was a glorified secretary of his. What he wanted was a trustworthy partner.**

"**Only that all escape routes **_**are**_** blocked and inaccessible as we expected, Commissioner" she said, solemnly. "I'm sorry."**

**Gordon sat back in his chair, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes. He hadn't slept for the past twenty hours. Part of the reason was the job, but it was also guilt for his betrayal of Batman. He knew he was wrong to ask for forgiveness, but he was truly sorry for his actions and hoped that Batman would understand one day. **

"**Okay, I want six units patrolling the city" he said, quickly. "The rest manning the station. Those worshipping those criminals, don't mess with them. I do want these terrorists caught, though. Set up an operation and put someone undercover. Make sure he's good. We're going to take this city back. I just hope that God's on **_**our**_** side, not their's. "**

**Bruce Wayne arrived at Wayne Enterprises Headquarters. Strangely enough, IVY hadn't been able to attack the place though they had originated there. Bruce knew this was because Lucius recruited all of the masterminds behind the operation himself and in turn, he knew them. Lucius knew that Dr. Ramona Stowalters had genetically spliced a new breed of plant using fossilized remains of a prehistoric plant and of a relatively modern one, specifically for her experiments. He knew Allister's personality and how jealous of Stowalters she was. She knew she would steal the genetic samples and replicate them. He also recognized the trees and vines from the attacks instantly as Stowalters' creation. Bruce in turn, knew Lucius Fox. He **_**knew**_** that Lucius Fox would be working on a way to counteract the Alpha Vector. He just knew. Lucius Fox had massive biometric scans of the buildings done and had all traces of the species removed, removing the threat of an IVY attack on Wayne Enterprises.**

**The scientist Dr. Phillip Radmon, who was manning the front desk, was more than surprised to see Bruce Wayne at Wayne Enterprises. He, like everybody else in Gotham, fell for Bruce's shtick as Gotham's most eligible bachelor and air headed billionaire playboy. Even Wayne's recent generous donation to the victims of Downing Tower didn't change that. **

**In the lobby was where Radmon met with Bruce Wayne. Radmon was a slight man with bulking glasses, a lab coat over a quite a nerdy outfit of a black Darth Maul shirt, khaki shorts and sneakers. **

"**Mr. Wayne" Radmon said, clearly surprised. "What are you doing here?"**

"**I'm here to talk to Lucius Fox, and where is all the security?"**

"**They bailed. I'm sorry, Mr. Wayne but Mr. Fox is really deposed right now. Even if he wasn't I doubt he'd want to speak with you."**

"**Oh, really" Wayne asked, innocently as he saw Lucius Fox walk into the lobby with his usual pleasant smile and his hands clasped behind his back.**

"**I'll take it from here" Fox assured Radmon, "Phillip, thank you."**

**Radmon raised a hand, saying, "Sir, I was only doing what you asked."**

**Lucius raised a hand, interrupting him, "I know, I know, Phillip. I got it from here."**

**Radmon wisely stepped aside and went back to typing comments on his Myspace page from behind the front desk. **

"**I take it you have something you want to talk to me about" Fox said to Bruce. "Come on, walk this way." He led Bruce to the lobby elevators. They took it down to the sub-basement, the site of Project GENESIS.**

"**Tell me you have something to combat the Alpha Vector" pleaded Bruce Wayne of Fox as they walked Project GENESIS' familiar halls. **

**Fox didn't hesitate when he answered, "We don't have anything to combat the Alpha Vector."**

"**Dammit" replied Bruce.**

"**But we're working on it" assured Fox. "Ever since Ramona Stowalters debuted the Alpha Vector, I've had a completely different staff building a counteracting agent known as the Omega Vector, as a precaution. It works the same as the Alpha Vector, only instead of using the Divinity gene, we're using a disintegrating agent we're calling Exodus."**

"**Cute" commented Bruce.**

"**I thought so" said Lucius. They stepped in front of the Sec. 11 vault door. Bruce never thought he'd be back there. Then again, he didn't think a lot of things happened.**

**There were back in the troughs of Project GENESIS, looking into the same window where Bruce witnessed the Alpha Vector's test. The room was destroyed in the attack by IVY but was now semi-rebuilt in a way to house the Omega Vector. It looked somewhat the same, a large ten foot-long vase-shaped metal contraption with a circular mouth lined with orbs which acted as bells and aided the spread of the Exodus gene.**

"**Lucius" Bruce said as the two marveled at Gotham's salvation, "why didn't you tell me initially that I wasn't the only one to fund Project GENESIS?"**

"**You must remember, Mr. Wayne" Fox said, carefully picking over his words, "I intended Project GENESIS to be a secret project. It required quite a lot of money. If you were the only one putting so much money into one project, you would have been asking questions. I didn't want to have to lie to you."**

"**I **_**have **_**been getting a little of that, lately" said Bruce, thinking of Gordon.**

"**I had Dr. Allister and Dr. Naughton handle the funding" Fox said, lowering his head, "I see now that that was a mistake."**

**Bruce didn't know what to think. Lucius was indirectly responsible for IVY forming. Then again, wasn't Dr. Ramona Stowalters, seeing as she provided them their weapons? Wasn't he himself, seeing as IVY were Wayne Enterprise employees? They all had a little burden to bear in this whole ordeal. Neither of them said anything for a while.**

"**I've been meaning to ask you" said Lucius with a grin, after a while, "what happened to your face?"**

**Bruce laughed it off, saying, "Damn, mangy cats. I swear, Lucius, that's why I'll always be a dog man."**

"**I thought you were more of a **_**bat**_** man" said Lucius.**

"**I may look like I have a love for the creatures" said Bruce with a chuckle, "but I've actually hated the damn things." **

"**Surprises come in all shapes and forms" muttered Lucius with a nod. His face seemed sad to Bruce, something he wasn't accustomed to seeing from his Chief Executive Officer.**

"**What's wrong" asked Bruce, sincerely.**

"**To think" Lucius said, "that I gave you a hard time for using sonar technology to hack every cellphone in the city not too long ago. Here I am, sponsoring a weapon that's potentially more dangerous than the hydrogen bomb."**

"**Hey" Bruce said, reassuring Lucius with an arm on my shoulder, "IVY didn't give us a choice. What else can we do? Just let them destroy the rest of Gotham and replace it with trees and vines?"**

"**Not only that but I'm partly responsible for the creation of Alpha Vector" he said, looking at the Omega Vector thoughtfully. He watched as hand-picked engineers were welding parts to the machine as scientists took notes and system checks. "I wonder if Ramona feels some of this same guilt."**

"**I assure you" said Ramona, the last patient of Gotham Medical Center, "I do **_**not**_**." She looked at Bruce with a look of venomous contempt for even thinking of questioning her guilt. **

"**That's funny" Bruce said, rubbing his head, "I came here expecting you to be gone. If you weren't gone, though, I was going to give you a speech about how its **_**not**_** your fault."**

"**Save it, Bruce" Stowalters said, "I don't feel an ounce of guilt."**

"**You've made that clear" Bruce replied.**

**Sitting up as Bruce opened up the blinds, bringing a little light into the room, she said, "I created the Alpha Vector to build cells. It was meant to be a cure for diseases around the world. How could I even have guessed it would be used as a weapon?"**

"**But you had to have known that it could potentially happen" Bruce said.**

"**Maybe" she said, thoughtfully, "Bruce, you have to understand though. The Divinity gene is a very aggressive agent that forcefully clings to anything it can find and builds on it. Genes are not programs. You can't tell it to do one thing and not do another. It has a specific job to do and that's all it **_**can**_** do."**

**Bruce nodded and said, "Yeah, I get that. Let me rephrase what I'm trying to get across. How could you **_**not**_** have known that what you created could be used a devastating weapon."**

"**Okay" she relented, "I knew that there was a one out of a billion chance that it could happen. I took precautions. I never let it out of my sight. I barely slept and only kept around those I thought I could trust. Well, those I **_**thought**_** I could trust, anyway. Allister and Naughton have picked apart my trust factor."**

"**Ramona, another thing" Bruce said, "did you have any idea who Allister and Naughton were getting to fund the project."**

"**No" she said, softly, "I saw **_**none **_**of that part. That was **_**all **_**them."**

"**I'm sorry I have to push these things, Doctor" Bruce said.**

"**It's okay, Bruce" Stowalters said, with a pleasant smile, "I like you, anyway. Hey, come closer for a moment. There's something I want to tell you. Oh, and please call me Ramona."**

**Bruce was at the foot of her bed but she motioned him to come to her bedside. He reluctantly did. She immediately stroked his hand with her own and snaked her way into holding his hand. **

"**Bruce, I have something to confess" she said, swallowing and looking into his eyes, "I've had the hots for you ever since I met you. I always imagined you to be some kind of arrogant prick but when I met you, I realized it was just what people expected of you. You became that because that's what Gotham needed you to be, a playboy it can hate and love at the same time. I hate that part of you but I really like the part that you really are. Bruce, come closer." He reluctantly leaned down to her until their noses almost touched. He had expected her to smell somewhat bad as she had been in an hospital bed with broken bones for a week. He knew she had to have taken showers but she smelled so **_**good**_**. It was a strange, but very pleasant aroma that seemed very natural but tantalizing all at the same time. He couldn't describe it but it seemed familiar, somehow. **

"**What's that smell" he asked, absently.**

"**You like it, don't you" she said with a smile. "That's a secret I might reveal to you, one day. I guess you'll have to interrogate me for it." She was stroking the back of his hair with his right hand and stroked his facial scar with her left hand. "The Alpha Vector can heal this, you know."**

**He thought about it and said, "I think I'll pass."**

**She smiled and leaned up, kissing him softly on the lips. "Mmm" she hummed, "You have soft lips."**

"**Thanks" he said. "Ramona, why are you still here?"**

"**For you, Bruce" she said, before leaning in for another kiss, "it was all for you."**

**Selina Kyle stood outside of Ballard Hall where Agents Flanagan and Montoya had driven her. They were parked not too far away but out of sight. She was undercover as a fashion model to catch a suspected drug trafficker named Christine Victoria, who was also the head of a modeling and cosmetics giant named Eve's Desire. Now, as Gotham was falling apart, it was a better time than any to arrest her. Their superiors had asked the agents to pull out but not to return empty-handed. They would give them Victoria. However, the door were locked. Using her left shoulder, Selina barged her way through. To her surprise, both Agent Flanagan and Agent Montoya approached her from behind helping her with their barges. Eventually, they knocked the doors open and walked into a dark theatre, with only a little illumination from various holes in the ceiling and walls where light shined through.**

**Montoya and Flanagan pulled out their guns as they all cautiously walked inside. **

"**Christine" bellowed Selina. Immediately, machine-gun fire rained down on them from the upper levels. All three of the agents scattered in different directions. They each hid behind a different object. **

"**Flanagan" yelled out Montoya over the gunfire, "are you hit?!" she was hidden behind a statue depicting famous engineer Andrew Ballard holding up the entire city of Gotham. Flanagan was behind a replica of the statue across the aisle.**

"**No" he yelled back, "but I can't get a fix on the shooter! They won't stop **_**shooting**_**!"**

"**Where's Kyle" Montoya called out. **

"**I don't know" Flanagan yelled back as some gunfire nearly hit his face and slumped down to avoid it.**

**Christine Victoria was on the balcony above them with a clear view of the entrance and had run out of rounds in her sub-machine gun. She unloaded the clip and was attempting to reload the next one when somebody jammed an elbow in the back of her neck. She stumbled forward and attempted to swing the gun on her attacker but a palm was driven upwards to her chin and she fell backwards. Selina Kyle, the attacker, stepped towards her. She had used her well-honed agility to rush for the stairs while she was firing on Agents Flanagan and Montoya and circled around the shooter, which turned out to be her boss. At least, one of them.**

"**Selina" asked Christine looking up, drowsily, "what are you doing here?"**

"**What the hell are **_**you**_** doing, Christine" Selina asked, seeing the mirrors and lines of cocaine Christine had set up in the seats. "Why were you shooting at me?! And I thought I told you to stay away from this shit!"**

"**I'm sorry" Christine apologized. "I got nervous! Selina, I screwed up! It's too late for me!"**

"**What are you talking about" asked Selina.**

"**Selina" Christine said, sitting up, "I didn't mean for any of this to happen! I just wanted to cash in on the profits and to say I did something great! To make something out of my life!"**

"**You're not making any sense" said Selina, shaking her head. "You're coked out of your mind!"**

"**So" Christine shouted, "Shut up and let me talk! They're coming to kill me! There's nobody that can save me now!"**

"**Who's coming to kill you" asked Selina. "Calm down."**

"**Didn't you see the broadcast" she shouted, "IVY!!! And you might want to run because if you're here when they arrive, they'll murder you too!"**

_**Author's Note: I'm very sorry about how long it took to update this story but I've been having a few problems with having it progress. I know how its going to end but as fellow writers know, its getting to that ending which is a different story. I won't call it writer's block because when I couldn't work on this one, I've been working on other stories. They're not fanfics so sorry, you won't be seeing them on this site. All I can do is apologize for the ending because while the previous two chapters had action, this one had like NONE. I hate cliffhangers just like the next reader and viewer, and I'm sorry for being a hypocrite but I just took so long on this particular chapter for seemingly no reason and I had to get it away from me and be done with it. I got Batman:Divine Right under control again, so don't fear. Don't worry, the next chapter is going to have A LOT of action. There's going to be hell to pay for IVY, courtesy of Batman and Catwoman. I plan on finishing the rest of the story pretty quickly, now. I hope to put out the remaining 3-4 chapters before the end of the week. So, I hope the ones who like this story stick around. There are some lasting effects on the Batman movie universe and I might just decide to do another Batman story if I get a positive enough response for this one. I'll decide when its over. Bye for now.**_


	8. Chapter 8

"Ramona" Bruce said, reaching up to remove her vice-like grip with both arms around her neck, "I'm sorry but I have to go now."

"Aaah" Ramona said with a slight teasing smile, "so soon?"

Bruce pulled back from her grasp with visible effort, yanking away from her and bumping into the wall behind him. She either didn't notice or didn't care.

"I promise I'll be back" he assured her, rushing for the door to leave. "I just have some things I need to take care of."

"You do that" she said as he left, "We'll talk later." Now that she was gone, she realized just how alone she was in this place. Nobody was around anymore to care for her and she could walk but her bones ached too much for her to get very far. She hated how frail her body was. _If only there was an Alpha Vector_, she couldn't help but think. She quickly pushed these thoughts aside. How could she rely on something that could cause so much destruction? "But you had to have known it could potentially happen" was what Bruce had said to her. She had hated him for a second when he said that. Yet, she was attracted to him. He was just a lot more than she thought he would be and she wanted to find out how _much_ more. Yet, to question whether she knew whether it could potentially happen? Of course, she knew. The benefits of the project far outweighed the costs. Even now. Gotham was a city. She had the potential to save millions, possibly billions of lives. Gotham could always be rebuilt and not that many people had died anyway. With this justification in mind, she found false peace and slept for a while.

"How did it go" asked Alfred, when Bruce got back in his limo.

"Don't even ask, Alfred" Bruce assured, "I need to go to Ballard Hall now. Its where Christine Victoria was to hold her Eve's Desire show. I know her type, or at least thought I did. She's very vain. She's going to be there, I'm sure of it. And if she is, I need to talk to her, as Bruce Wayne, not Batman."

"Why do you do that, sir" Alfred asked.

"Do what?"

"Talk like Bruce Wayne and Batman are two different people" Alfred explained, "you're starting to sound like an Arkham Asylum patient."

"Alfred" Bruce said with a sigh, "if I'm an Arkham Asylum patient, then _you _are Jeremiah Arkham."

Alfred started the car, smiling to himself and said, "Thank you, sir."

"Not a compliment" Bruce replied.

"Christine" Selina said, standing above Christine Victoria, who she had knocked to the ground, "take a deep breath and calm down."

Christine attempted to get up but was too excited to make a coherent action.

"There's no saving me" Christine yelled at her, "I made myself easy to find because they would just find me later. I can't hide from them! _You _have to get out of here! Martial arts won't protect you from them!"

"Hey" Flanagan called to Selina from below. Selina looked over the balcony. "Is she in league with IVY" he asked. Selina looked to Christine, intending to ask the question. There was no need, as Christine simply nodded.

"She says yes" Selina yelled down to Flanagan.

He cackles wildly. "Flanagan" Montoya said, "get a hold of yourself."

"This just keeps getting better and better" Flanagan yells and walks over to Montoya. "Don't you see how messed up this whole situation is?!"

"Exactly" she said, "so we need to resolve it quickly before it gets even more messed up. Now, all we need now is Batman and the police."

"Police" Flanagan asked, "_what _police?! The force is _nothing_ now! Nonexistent! A minor nuisance at best!"

As long as James Gordon was police commissioner, it would be a safe bet to assume that the police force is anything but nothing, nonexistent and a minor nuisance. True, his forces and resources were largely depleted but they were very much alive.

"This is Unit Forty-Two to HQ" said Officer Crispus Allen called in over the police radio, "I hear gunshots on Thirty-Fourth and Bullock. Permission to investigate." He was patrolling with partner Hugh Foley.

"Negative, Unit Forty-Two" the radio communicator said, "Stand by for back-up."

"Dammit" said Officer Foley, in frustration. He needn't worry, however as they heard police sirens just down the street. It sounded like more than one squad car.

"If only we had response time like this before IVY" said Allen.

Alfred and Bruce Wayne parked along the curb in front of Ballard Hall.

"Are you sure you want to do this, sir" Alfred said, putting the car into park and looking back at Bruce in the backseat.

"I'll be fine, Alfred" Bruce assured him and looked at Ballard. It looked so empty and gloomy. It looked like the perfect scene for a massacre. _I'll be fine_, he thought, _but would Alfred_?

"Alfred" Bruce said, "when I get out of this car. I want you to pull off and go back to the condo."

"But, sir…" Alfred began.

"Don't argue, Alfred" Bruce said, "I'm Batman, remember? I can handle myself. Let me save you, okay?"

Alfred nodded as Bruce got out of the limo. He rolled down the passenger door window and leaned over.

"Sir, you'll remember to call me if you are in trouble" he said, worrying, "won't you?"

"Trust me" Bruce said, "I won't. Phones don't work, remember?" With that, Bruce turned and walked towards the Ballard Hall entrance.

Dr. Heather Allister and Dr. Victor Naughton watched as the limo pulled off from Ballard Hall. _Bruce Wayne_, she thought, _here?_ This made everything so much better for IVY. It meant they could take out all four of their threats in one day. Then, they could find out if a paradise could ever exist on earth, without incident. She, Naughton and seven of IVY's best hired assassins were in an ominous van parked a block down the street from where Bruce Wayne's limo had just been. Now that Bruce went inside Ballard Hall, Naughton crept the van closer.

"Christine Victoria" Bruce called out loud enough to be heard as he walked into Ballard Hall's lobby. He continued calling out her name until he got to the theatre floor. "Christine Victoria" he called again, "it's Bruce Wayne! I just want to talk!" Bruce heard a shuffling noise and sensed hastened movement quickly approaching him from the right, somebody attempting to flank and attack him from behind. Flanagan attempted to hit him in the back of the head with the butt of his gun. Bruce ducked the shot and drove his elbow into Flanagan's guts. Flanagan coughed and doubled over. Bruce flung him to the ground, simultaneously sliding his gun from his hand. He left a coughing Flanagan just sitting there.

"Drop it" Montoya said, approaching him, training her own gun on him.

"You mean this" asked Bruce. He held it up, pushing the clip release and discharging the bullet in the chamber before holding it out to her.

"I said drop the damn firearm" she shouted now. She did inch closer to him, just in range. He threw the pistol parts at Montoya's face, accurately hitting her in the forehead. Staggering backwards and knocking her off track, she let out a 'hmpf' sound before accidentally discharging two bullets into the theatre seats. He lunged forward, placing his right leg behind both of hers and driving his shoulders into her chest taking hers, taking her down effectively. He rolled her under him, causing her to drop her gun. He held her in place with the weight of his body and held her upper body down with his powerful arms. She struggled against him angrily but he was very strong due to all of his grueling training. She wasn't going anywhere.

"What the _hell_" she shouted up at him.

"Who are you" he asked her, "and where is Christine Victoria?"

"Ha" she said, "like I'm going to tell you, playboy!"

"Get off of her" he heard a familiar feminine voice from above him. He looked up and saw a slender but athletic woman in a doorway at the side of the theatre which led to a spiraling staircase that led to the balcony seats. It was Selina Kyle, in a black T-shirt, blue jeans, loafers and a Christine's sub-machine gun in her left hand, trained on Bruce. She saw the diagonal scar on the right side of his face. He noticed the deep, alluring green tint in her eyes and cruel, mocking and seductive smile on her lips. She was like a cat. Recognition dawned on both of their faces. They had gotten to know each other better than each of them had previously thought over the past week. They didn't even need masks to recognize each other.

Joseph Davidson led IVY's assassins into Ballard Hall. He was Dr. Naughton and Allister's most trusted lieutenant and one they could trust. They all filed into the lobby.

"I want two with me" he told two of the biggest, "the rest fan out and search the halls. I want Victoria slaughtered before we leave here. I don't care how its done but get it done."

Bruce gets up and steps over Agent Montoya with his hands up. Montoya quickly rolls over, grabbing her gun. She smacks him in the head with the butt of it. Bruce stumbles forward from the hard smack but doesn't fall. He isn't easily knocked down, let alone knocked out. Too much endurance and durability training. Bruce just stood straight back up. He didn't retaliate in any way, just holding up his hands and faced Selina as Montoya put her gun to the back of his head.

"Bang" Montoya teased, though Bruce paid no attention.

"Amazing" Selina commented, shaking her head in disbelief, "of all the people in Gotham…" she laughed.

"What" asked Montoya.

"He's Batman" yelled Selina.

"What" asked Montoya, "how do you know?!"

"Yes, I'm Batman" Bruce found himself admitting, "and you're Catwoman. You can tell from the scar you gave me, right? Well, I can see it in your eyes. They're very unique. I've never seen eyes like yours."

"Why thank you, Batman" Selina said, "and as much as I'd like to settle this little dispute between us, we just don't have the time for this."

Flanagan had recovered a little by then and stumbled his way over to them. Just in time, as it turned out. Joseph Davidson, a larger black man and leather-clad man with a assault rifle, entered the theatre.

"IVY has come to take you to Eden" Davidson said to them, "if you want to make it there, you want to give us Christine Victoria."

Alfred left Ballard Hall with a bad taste in his mouth. Bruce Wayne had always been like a son to him and knew he could handle himself. However, he also knew Bruce was missing a vital fact. He agreed in thinking that IVY shouldn't be allowed to murder their apparent funders. However, he realized that if Lucius Fox and his team finished the Omega Vector before schedule, that Bruce Wayne wouldn't know. Alfred decided quickly to take it upon himself to be the one to watch over Lucius Fox and relay back to Bruce the second the Omega Vector was complete. Before then, Alfred had taken a stance against helping Bruce Wayne's Batman directly other than with advice and medical attention. This, however, was a situation that called for his help. He pulled over in front of Wayne Enterprises.

"Now" Alfred said to himself, "how am I going to handle this?"

"Well" Joseph Davidson asked, holding up an assault rifle of his own, cocking it and switching the safety level from safe to auto, "where is she?"

Selina responded by firing eight sub-machine gun rounds into Davidson's chest. Greg Haller, the assassin with an assault rifle fired back at them. Both Montoya and Flanagan ducked behind the front row of seats, while Bruce tackled Selina to the ground. The rounds tore the top of seats sending cotton cushioning and leather fabric into the air.

Bruce laid on top of Selina, protecting her body with his own. They glance into each other's eyes, seeing the reflection of a fighter in each other.

"I could have shot you just now" Selina told Bruce, even over the gunfire.

"I know" Bruce said, "You shouldn't have shot that man, but I couldn't let you die."

"I could _still _shoot you" she said. He felt the barrel of her sub-machine gun against his belly.

"You _really _don't like me, do you" he asked her.

"I despise you with everything I am" she told him.

"Great" he said, simply. After that, the gunfire ceased.

"Psst" Flanagan hissed, "Kyle, the guy just ran out of ammo! Give Montoya the gun so she can go grab Victoria. You and I can take these guys out." Selina rolled out from under Bruce and slid the sub-machine gun to Montoya, who hastily grabbed it and ran upstairs.

"Don't just stand there, idiot" Malcolm, the large black man told his partner, "Grab her!"

The assassin unsheathed a dagger ran for the stairs after her. Selina Kyle scrambled to her feet and ran for the door with great speed. _She's fast_, Bruce observed. _Possibly as fast as me_. She made it to the door before he did. At running speed, she lunged in the air towards him and drove her right leg into his chest. She rolled over him as he fell flat on his back. Malcolm slapped her in the face as she attempted to get up and she kicked him in the back of his knee. He didn't budge and he tried to stomp on her. She rolled out of the way. Flanagan jumped over the front row. Without a weapon, he ran and tried to tackle Malcolm. Malcolm simply stepped to the left while throwing Flanagan into the wall. He fell, stunned as he smashed his own head with his momentum.

Attracted by the gunfire, IVY's other five men entered the theatre. "Davidson's dead" Malcolm told them, taking the dead lieutenant's place. "I want three of you to search upstairs for Victoria. There's a woman upstairs with a machine gun so be careful."

A man armed with a machete headed towards the stairs. Bruce Wayne stood up and cut him off with a side kick to his ribs. He stumbled to his knees. Another man attempted to punch Bruce in the face. Bruce caught his hand and pulled him towards him for a punch to the gut. When the man fell over, Bruce drove his knee under his chin, knocking him out, and threw him to the side.

Selina, still on the ground, kicked a man in the front of the knee. He fell over in pain, while she stood up. He groaned in pain.

"Shut up" She said, kicking him in the face. A man tried to grab her by the neck. She dropped her body, slipping through his arms and slid around him. She grabbed his arm and twisted him around, dragging him to the ground. She had leverage on him as he lay face first. She pulled him arm upwards in the air and snapped his arm at the elbow. His scream pierced the air and she rolled out of the way as another machete-wielding man swiped at her head.

Bruce blocked one of them when he tried to kick him in the left side of the head by raised his left arm. He grabbed his leg and drove his knee into his abdomen. He drove his knee into the man's stomach four more times until he grew weak. He then lifted him into the air by his legs, flipped in the air and threw into the ground, making him bounce off of his head. The thug with a machete returned. Bruce tackled him into the wall, punching him in the arm until the man dropped it. He then pulled the man towards him and flipped him onto his side.

Selina spun on the ground, sweeping her own machete-wielding thug's legs out from under him. He fell flat on his back. She then proceeded to continuously kick him in the face. She kicked him in the face ten times, ruining it before he stopped moving. Bruce himself, whose blood was running hot from the fight, was continuously punching the man who had held a machete in the face. _He's done, Bruce_, a voice told him. He realized it was right as the man's face was bloody and he had broken his nose, among other things. This is something he had told himself he wouldn't do, but he was so angry. Frustrated by what happened to Gotham that he hadn't been able to stop. Yet, he knew bats didn't scare him anymore. Sometimes, his only fear was himself.

Malcolm began to clap his hands. He had been watching them the entire time, as they had been picking apart his associates.

"Its funny, really" he said, "that you think you accomplished _anything_! The bitch you're attempting to protect is probably already dead!"

"Hey, jackass" Selina called out, standing, "there's a top government agent up there so unless you have an assassin who actually knows what they're doing in a fight, then Victoria won't even be _touched_!"

"You might want to go check on her" Malcolm said, grinning.

"I got it" said Flanagan, who stumbled to his feet and crawled towards the stairs.

They all watched him leave.

"That's it" Selina asked, "you're just going to let him leave?"

"I'm not worried, "said Malcolm.

"Well, in that case" Selina walked towards the stairs. Malcolm stepped in front of her.

"Yeah" he said, "I'm not going to let _that_ happen."

By the time Agent Flanagan made it upstairs, it was already over. Agent Montoya was on the ground, beaten and holding her face. She was shaking rapidly, which gave Flanagan the impression that she was sobbing. This was strange because for as long as Flanagan had known Montoya, she had never shown fear and she never even came close to crying. Also, Christine Victoria was in the corner of the room lying still. Flanagan ran to check on her. Her eyes were wide open and her face was frozen in peace. Her body glistened in sweat and her veins stood out prominently even though there was no longer blood running through them. He closed her eyes for her and noticed her mouth was partially open and that something was poking out of it. He opened her lower jaw, which parted easily enough. He had to look away. What he saw was the remains of a bulbous flower. Whoever had done this had force-fed Christine Victoria a poisonous plant.

Bruce punched Malcolm in the back. Malcolm didn't budge so Bruce did it two more times. Malcolm turned and threw a hook at Bruce, who ducked underneath it. Selina kicked Malcolm in the ribs and when he didn't respond, she tried a different approach. She leaned to the right and kicked him directly in the groin. Malcolm grunted and fell to his knees in pain. He howled shrilly and held himself, desperately as his temple and veins on his bald head became very prominent.

"A little much" asked Bruce. Selina shrugged at that. Malcolm fell over on his side.

"I don't think he'll be giving us any more problems" she said, turning away, "we should probably check on Christine Victoria."

"Yeah" he said, " and then you explain to me exactly what's up with you."

"All in good time, my dear bat" she said, happily. They walked away.

"No" they heard him shout, in another furious voice other than his own. It sounded demonic, in a way. "I am not finished with you two, yet!" They looked back at him. He pushed himself to his knees and ripped off his shirt. He was massive tattoos underneath with well-defined muscles. He must have been at least two hundred and forty pounds, almost entirely muscle. He stood at six feet and eight inches, probably stronger than both of them combined. They realized on the front of his body was a mountainous valley, surrounded by angels, underneath the clouds and the sun with a giant peak beautifully drawn in the background.

He lunged at the two of them. They both dodged him and swept his legs out from under him and caused him to land on his face. His back carried a tattoo of a dark castle, surrounded by hellfire and bodies impaled on spikes, with Satan's assumed face in the background. He pushed himself up and grabbed Selina by the arm. She yelled out, as he was very strong and she already felt uncomfortable strain on the bones in her arm. Bruce punched him repeatedly in his right bicep, the arm he was holding her with. Malcolm laughed at his foolish attempts to hurt him. He leaned closer to Bruce, menacingly and lifted the helpless Selina by that arm off of her feet.

"Aaah" Selina groaned, "Dammit, Batman! Kick him in the balls or _something!"_ Malcolm seemed to be taunting Bruce, so he made him pay for it. Bruce punched Malcolm directly in the eye socket, driving two of his knuckles into Malcolm's left eyeball. Malcolm dropped Selina and clutched his eyes with his hands, falling on his back. He grunted and screamed in pain and anger.

"I've had enough of this shit" she said, reaching into her jeans pocket and yanked out some electrified knuckles. She put them on her left hand and sat over Malcolm.

"You like to strong-arm women, huh" she yelled at him, "what happens when a woman strong-arms you!" She began began punching him repeatedly in the face and body with a form of brass knuckles that had the effects of a high-voltage taser device. She continuously hit him, electrocuting him and causing his body to convulse painfully and wildly. She was hitting him so much that Bruce wondered whether or not she had been fighting non-stop for the past five minutes, as she didn't seem exhausted in the least bit. If Bruce let her go on any longer, Selina would have beat him to death, if she hadn't already.

He pulled her by her right arm, which probably wasn't a good idea, considering what had just happened. She replied by throwing an electrified backhand at him. It was awkward though, and he dodged it easily.

"Victoria, remember" he reminded her. She stopped moving for a second, trying to catch her breath. She got off of Malcolm, who had stopped moving.

She nodded to show she understood. He knew she was too angry to speak right now. He just wished she'd take off the knuckles.

Flanagan knew there was no point in trying to pursue them. Victoria was already dead and that was a case blown. The damage had been done. That and they had hurt Renee Montoya. That made his resolve to take down IVY that much stronger. He knelt by Montoya and tried to touch her. She pushed him away. She was conscious, just hurt badly.

"Montoya" he said to her, "where does it hurt?" She rolled over away from him as a response. She didn't answer him. Selina and Bruce found the two of them like this, as well as Christine Victoria's dead body in the corner.

"What the hell happened" Selina asked.

"I…I was too late" Flanagan said, apologetic.

Selina turned on Bruce with fury. "This is all your fault" she accused. "If you hadn't come, we would have been ready for them." If Bruce had remembered correctly, he was a big reason why they were put down in the first place but he didn't pursue. It would only through wood on the fire that was burning in Selina's heart.

She swung at him with her electric knuckles. He barely dodged it. He was really surprised he did, as until then she had really been entirely too agile for him to avoid any of her attacks. He took advantage of it by getting behind her and putting her in a sleeping hold, holding his forearm against the vein in her neck. He was ready to press down and cut off her blood circulation if she asked for it.

"Will you calm down" Bruce asked, calmly.

"Will you two stop that" Flanagan asked, irritated.

Instead, Selina drove her elbow into Bruce's side and flung him over her. He fell flat on his back, vulnerable to her attempting to slam her electric knuckle into his skull. He rolled out of the way and tackled her to the ground. He pinned her arms to the ground. She attempted to knee him in the groin but he caught her leg with both of his. That was when the police sirens began to become audible from outside. This was of course bad news to all of them.

Victor Naughton and Heather Allister drove away from Ballard Hall with urgency.

"Well" Naughton said, "that didn't go as well as we thought it would, did it?"

"It doesn't matter" said Allister, "all that matters is that Christine Victoria is dead and I'm the one who killed her. That alone makes me happy."

"I'm glad you're happy" Naughton said, not taking his head off of the road, "because I'm pissed."

"_Oh_, baby" Allister said, stroking Naughton's face, "my Adam, I promise I'll make it up to you, later."

He shrugged her off of him and said, "The only thing that will make up for that disaster will be Bruce Wayne's death, along with that woman, and Carla Yang's death without an incident."

"Oh" Allister said, "You know that last one isn't going to happen. You know how difficult Yang will be the hardest to kill. Which is why we're getting her out of the way next. The last one will be extremely easy."

"That's what you said about Christine Victoria" pointed out Naughton.

"Well" she said, "that's only because of Bruce Wayne and that woman. Don't worry, Adam, everything will be easier in our perfect paradise."


End file.
